The transformative power of social media is evident across all areas of our lives. Healthcare has significantly benefited from it, albeit in some instances the tool has proven deadly. The reality remains that one cannot look at the advantages of social media and forgo the bad, but it comes down to leveraging it for the greater good. Below we shall explore the benefits social media has brought to healthcare with regards to helping the public.

Raising awareness

Lack of knowledge has led many people to suffer unnecessarily. An easy example is how to remain healthy during flu season. A brain injury lawyer Vancouver expat may hold on to a belief that they have to catch flu from their family members and indeed ends up getting one. The reality is once can put some measures in place and not get it altogether. It is therefore not about a person’s social status. Social media raises awareness and equips us with information we did not otherwise have. 

[Read more…]

By Vin Clancy

Envy,

That’s what a lot of you feel when you look at brands and influencers who generate huge amounts of traffic and sales from social media.

Don’t worry, I get it too. Now a lot of these people are either: extremely talented, have a lot of money for ads, or have grinded their way to the top of the newsfeed.
And I have the utmost respect for the vast majority of them. But saying that, there is another reason why these people/brands reached the summit of their game.

It’s because they got there first. Speed is the most valuable asset to have in this game and striking fast and hard is ideally  the way to go about things. Over the past year, a lot of people have asked me what the next big social platform is going to be.

Here are 7 of my predictions in regards to the future of social media. [Read more…]

By Kurt Long, CEO and founder, FairWarning, Inc.

According to CNBC, Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data. Facebook was also in talks with top hospitals and other medical groups regarding a proposal to match patient data with their user data.

The stated intention was to “help the hospitals figure out which patients might need special care or treatment.” Facebook stated that the project is on hiatus so it can focus on “doing a better job of protecting people’s data.”

But that clearly hasn’t been a priority for the data giant. For Facebook’s 2 billion users, many of whom are now outraged, the real issue isn’t just how Facebook plans to protect its users but how data is used in the United States – and who the data actually belongs to.

In this climate of heightened awareness, healthcare organizations need to put customers first by making privacy and security of data actionable priorities. In the digital age, the new currency is trust. It’s hard to come by these days, so any organization that can distinguish itself as a source of trust will have no trouble attracting business. [Read more…]

By Kim Bassett

Use of social media is a part of our everyday lives and is a widely accepted form of communication for the average American. With familiarity and frequency of use brings more opportunities for misuse. According to a study done by On Device Research, a market analyst firm, 1 in 10 young job seekers have lost a job opportunity because of their social media profiles.

The greatest faux pas or errors will happen when people grow too comfortable and/or confident in the social media environment. I’m seeing this happen more and more on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. We are letting our guards down and have a false sense of security when posting.

Much of the time our posts are harmless, but occasionally something major can go awry if and when the one-off post is seen by the wrong person. Particularly if that post is not inline with your employer or prospective employer’s social media rules and guidelines.



[Read more…]

By Alla Bogdan

You work hard on your blog content. You try to provide value, write in an engaging voice, and include killer images so people will enjoy every minute of reading your posts. Social Triggers tells us that most of the 164 million blogs on the internet, most get less than 1,000 visitors every month. The problem is, it’s not an “if you build it they will come” type of situation. In order to get traffic to your blog, you have to drive it there. Social media is a great way to do that. Let’s look at how.