A complete list of yesterday's tweets. Thanks for following. If you would like to follow, go to http://www.twitter.com/skypen.
A complete list of yesterday's tweets. Thanks for following. If you would like to follow, go to http://www.twitter.com/skypen.
A complete list of yesterday's tweets. Thanks for following. If you would like to follow, go to http://www.twitter.com/skypen.
By Ross Fetterolf, VP Digital Strategy at Ignite Health
(On twitter @digitalbulldog)
Well, it’s official – it took a total of 12 tweets before diabetes patient/racecar driver Charlie Kimball produced the first branded tweet on his Race With Insulin Twitter page (@racewithinsulin, http://twitter.com/racewithinsulin). See my previous post on this initiative here.
The effort is sponsored by Novo Nordisk, and includes both Levemir and Novolog important safety information and logos as part of the Twitter page background. The tweet itself represents (to this blogger's knowledge) the first ever officially branded tweet in the Pharma space, and can now be used as a model for other companies who want to adopt this approach:
The tweet includes both the full product name (brand name and generic), and includes a link to the full prescribing information for Levemir within the tweet itself. This represents a particularly “safe” (and hopefully FDA friendly) approach, and one that also translates well to the mobile space – in case users aren’t viewing Charlie’s tweet on the Race With Insulin page directly, but instead on their mobile device.
I wonder if Charlie’s 125 followers have their Levemir flexpen’s primed and ready to inject along with Charlie when it’s time for his next dose. We’ll have to wait and see.
Source: POZ
by Kat Noel
Can the Web curb new HIV infections among African Americans?
As part of New York’s Internet Week, June 1 through 8, TheLoop21.com, an online news source and digital community for African Americans, invited various people within media to take part in a panel discussion titled “The Silent Killer: AIDS in Black America.” The goal was to address the impact the epidemic has had on the African-American community and to promote the Internet—from niche news sites to blogs to burgeoning communities such as Facebook and Twitter—as an HIV education tool.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released last year, African Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 45 percent of the country’s new HIV infections each year. AIDS is the third leading cause of death of African-American females ages 35 to 44 and the fourth leading cause of African-American males ages 25 to 44.
At the panel, K. Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, assistant commissioner in New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, highlighted that AIDS is the No. 1 cause of death of African-American women between the ages of 25 to 34 and that there has also been an increase in the rate of infection among those older than 50.
“There are a lot of stats, and the picture does point to black America, but it’s important that everyone pays attention to it because it’s really going to take the entire U.S. [and] the entire world to focus on this issue in order to help eradicate it,“ said Maybank. “It’s really disappointing when we have death rates that are so high, because there really is treatment out there that can sustain and maintain life for a long time.”
Acknowledging that more Americans are turning to the Internet for information and support when confronted with a problem, TheLoop21.com is encouraging bloggers to link to online HIV resources and to host discussions about the epidemic on their blogs as part of two weeklong national initiatives on June 21–27 and July 19–25. The TheLoop21.com organized the panel in the hopes that by taking the imperative dialogue online, where anonymity is possible, blacks will be more vocal about the effects of the epidemic and will research how to prevent it from further spreading.
During the panel discussion, Kenya Hunt, senior editor of Essence, revealed for the first time publicly that last year she was personally affected by the black community’s silence around HIV when her 44-year-old brother died from an AIDS-related illness. She had noticed his deteriorating health, Hunt recalled, but was originally told he passed away from meningitis.
After his death, Hunt’s sister-in-law finally admitted that her husband was HIV positive and had asked that his HIV status remain hidden from family members out of fear of judgment.
“The first thing that speaks to me is that we need to encourage more dialogue,” Hunt said. “Women have to be more aggressive and say to their men, ‘Let’s go get tested together.’ It definitely starts with you first. We’re independent women, we’re hustlers, so why is it so difficult to say to our mate, ‘This is what I need from you’?”
Terrence Dean, founder and creator of Men’s Empowerment and author of Hiding in Hip-Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry From Music to Hollywood, said people are reluctant to discuss the reality of HIV because it is predominantly transmitted through sex and intravenous drug use—taboo topics within the black community. Although he acknowledged that men who identify as heterosexual but secretly have sex with other men (often referred to as being “on the down low”) might contribute to the rising number of infections among blacks, he emphasized that “this is not a ‘gay disease,’ anyone can get this disease.”
“If you’re only worried about if someone has had sex with another man, they could have unprotected sex with a whole bunch of women but you didn’t ask that question,” added Sonya Lockett, vice president of public affairs at Black Entertainment Television (BET) Networks. “That may be where you actually get infected.”
While the black church is often seen as a mobilizing force within the community, Dean notes that many of African-American religious leaders have been reluctant to take on HIV. “TD Jakes said something very powerful—‘There’s not a scripture in the Bible that talks about how to deal with AIDS,’” Dean said. “He was right. They don’t know how to deal with it, so we can’t put the responsibility on them.”
Chuck Creekmur, cofounder and co-CEO of AllHipHop.com, believes that the fight against the epidemic starts with African Americans taking personal accountability for themselves and the people around them. “If you look at the statistics, you’ll lose hope,” Creekmur said. “You have to make it a little smaller so people can conceptualize how they affect the change. “
Tweet that.
Original Post: The Conference Board
Consumer Internet Barometer
(Trends, Usage and Attitudes)
For more detailed information, please visit www.consumerinternetbarometer.us
Social networks are exploding in popularity. Forty-three percent of the online community now uses social networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. This is up from 27 percent a year ago, reports The Conference Board and TNS.
The Consumer Internet Barometer, a quarterly report produced by The Conference Board, the global business membership and research association, and TNS, a global market insight and information group, surveys 10,000 households across the country and tracks who's doing what on the Internet.
More than half of social networkers log on at least once a day, and the majority log on several times a day. Interacting with family, friends and celebrities are among the main reasons people log on to sites like Twitter. The majority of users log on at home, although a quarter of social networkers log on at work, and 10 percent connect through their phone.
Social networking spans all generations. Today, about 19 percent of those age 55 and over visit these sites, up from just 6 percent a year ago. Women are more likely than men to use social networking sites (48 percent versus 38 percent), but usage has increased dramatically among both groups in just a year.
"Social media is here to stay," says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "Online social networks are more than just a fad among the younger generation. They've become an integral part of our personal and professional lives. They're an effective way to keep in touch with people, connect with friends and family, and network with colleagues. Social media will also transform marketing as we know it. They're powerful communication tools, and are becoming an essential part of successful marketing strategies."
"Social media has transformed the way individuals connect and communicate with one another," says Anita Watkins, Senior Vice President at TNS. "Smart marketers are utilizing this behavior to their advantage by setting up online communities in which consumers can freely interact, discuss and debate issues around products, services and brands in a natural way. Companies are listening in to these conversations and harnessing the power of influencers to co-create their marketing strategies."
Facebook Most Popular Site
The most popular site is Facebook, used by 78 percent of online households, followed by MySpace (42 percent), LinkedIn (17 percent) and Twitter (10 percent).
Both men and women use Facebook in equal numbers. However, women are more likely than men (47 percent versus 35 percent) to use MySpace. Conversely, more men than women (21 percent versus 15 percent) use LinkedIn. Across generations, Facebook usage is about equal, but when it comes to MySpace, those under 35 are more likely to have an account than their older counterparts.
When asked with whom they would like more access/interaction with, celebrities (15 percent) topped the list, with favorite company (14 percent), service providers (13 percent) and athletes/sports teams (11 percent) not far behind.
The top concerns of social networking members — expressed by about 50 percent — are viruses/malware, exposure of information to strangers and lack of privacy. Women tend to be moderately more concerned than men. Only 14 percent claim they have no concerns, compared to 22 percent of men.
Twitter Encourages Closer Connections
Members of Twitter, the real-time micro-blogging website, say their top reasons for "tweeting" are to connect with friends (42 percent), update their status (29 percent) and look for news (26 percent). They also use Twitter for work-related (22 percent) reasons. Two out of three Twitter users interact with friends. Thirty percent interact with family, 30 percent connect with celebrities, and 24 percent interact with other bloggers. Members of Twitter also are likely to interact with TV shows, employers, co-workers, companies/brands and TV anchors/journalists.
Among Twitter users, half report being introduced to the site by a friend or family member, and one out of three were introduced by a co-worker.
About This Survey:
The Consumer Internet Barometer is based on a quarterly survey of 10,000 households. A unique sample is surveyed each quarter. Return rates average 70 percent, which ensures highly representative data. Data is weighted as well to reflect the latest U.S. household demographic information. The latest survey was conducted during the second quarter of 2009. For more information, please email f.tortorici@conference-board.org or
lynn.franco@conference-board.org.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD
The Conference Board is a global, independent business-membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance AND better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org.
About TNS
TNS, which recently merged with Research International, is the world's largest custom research agency delivering actionable insights and research-based business advice to its clients so they can make more effective business decisions. TNS offers comprehensive industry knowledge within the Consumer, Technology, Finance, Automotive and Political & Social sectors, supported by a unique product offering that stretches across the entire range of marketing and business issues, specializing in product development & innovation, brand & communication, stakeholder management, retail & shopper, and qualitative research. Delivering best-in-class service across more than 70 countries, TNS is part of Kantar, the world's largest research, insight and consultancy network. Please visit www.tns-us.com for more information.
The Kantar Group
The Kantar Group is one of the world's largest research, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies — including the recently-acquired TNS — the group aims to become the preeminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP Group plc. For further information, please visit www.kantargrouptns.com.
A complete list of yesterday's tweets. Thanks for following. If you would like to follow, go to http://www.twitter.com/skypen.
Original post: Pharmaceutical Executive
Ellen Hoenig Carlson of Advance MarketWoRx is live from Day 2 of the Games for Health Conference.
With the completion of the Games For Health Conference Friday, it was very exciting to see several innovative efforts in place. Despite being the early days in Health eGaming, momentum is quickly building behind games and virtual worlds as potential “game changers” to improve education, engagement, and behavior to positively influence health.
As we head into the “virtual” future of marketing, here are seven key implications for pharma to think about:
1.Adherence: An educational and behavioral change focused game can be part of a ‘meaningful’ compliance and persistence-marketing program. Too often the current adherence RM programs are simply a few reminders that are either Web or direct mail interventions. A well-designed adherence health game could provide significantly more engagement to not only remind patients, but also teach them how to use and incorporate treatment into their daily regimen. And could furthermore, help them understand why on-going behavior changes and adherence are needed to maximize success.
2.Awareness/Diagnosis, Conversion: A well designed, fun game can be instrumental in helping people get diagnosed and/or feel better about new treatment options. Games can provide another channel and platform to further surround the consumer and provide learning and engagement opportunities that may appeal beyond traditional or Web media communications. Games have potential to turn one-way communications upside down in favor of two-way engagement.
3.Prevention: Virtual simulations of natural environments can dial-up coping mechanisms to help prevent relapse, improve self-esteem, and sustain learning. Memorial Sloan Kettering presented a pilot of a virtual reality simulation taking place in a home setting where an ex-smoker might be tempted in certain situations to smoke i.e. watching TV. While this virtual reality game was developed to prevent smoking relapse, one could also imagine designing a virtual simulation where ADHD kids or adults could practice social skills and coping mechanisms to be more successful in real life situations. Or even for diabetics or cholesterol suffers to ‘say no’ to sugar in social situations, etc. These types of games offer consumers the opportunity to test themselves prior to a real situation so that they can be ready for it.
4.Engagement, community building, and learning: Advergames that are relevant, easy, fun to play, and integrate the game and brand storyline in a seamless way can dramatically increase engagement, spawn communities, and become viral – always a struggle for the pharmaceutical industry. Well-executed advergames can also provide a rich source of qualified and highly motivated responders to a brand’s database for additional dialog and learning. Could Advergames complement and/or offer, in some cases, a more effective result than many of the relationship programs currently in place?
5.Consumer empowerment, with personalized 3D virtual realities and simulations, which can reflect the potential impact of possible behaviors and decisions on ‘their’ unique condition and quality of life. What would happen if we could enable a diabetic to watch what happens to their body in real time if they consume too much sugar? Or how strength building exercise and the proper diet does for bone preservation?
6.Medical training to enhance skills and execution. Some of the virtual simulations are pretty amazing. They can offer innovative ways to supplement training programs already in place with KOLs and sales reps, especially for new technologies and procedures that may require focused training to optimize usage and results.
7.Payer and managed care collaboration to improve healthcare prevention, diagnosis, delivery, and outcomes. Could this be a way to improve outcomes and bring meaningful value-add to your branded therapy, and a mechanism for the consumer to gain reimbursement for the adherence game with their branded medication? You be the judge. Start gaming!
A complete list of yesterday's tweets. Thanks for following. If you would like to follow, go to http://www.twitter.com/skypen.
By Ross Fetterolf, VP Digital Strategy Ignite Health
(twitter @digitalbulldog)
Novo Nordisk’s new “Race With Insulin” twitter page (http://twitter.com/racewithinsulin) represents an important development in the evolution of Pharma’s role on the micro-blogging service. This effort includes a corporate sponsorship of racecar driver Charlie Kimball, who is also a patient living with diabetes. This is the first Twitter account that aligns a patient advocate (who conceivably uses Levemir or Novolog insulin) with a specific brand (not just a corporation). This is the first Pharma Twitter page that includes safety information and brand logos as part of the page, representing a significant shift from Pharma’s typical corporate Twitter presence of setting up a corporate account, and pushing out press releases with company data (see AstraZeneca (http://twitter.com/AstraZenecaUS), Genentech (http://twitter.com/genentechnews) or GSK (http://twitter.com/GSKUS) as prime examples of the corporate Twitter presence).
Where is Novo Steering the Conversation?
The concept of hearing from real diabetes patients has been one that has been explored in many forms by Pharma in the past, including everything from photos/quotes as part of Lantus’ campaign (www.Lantus.com), Novo’s “voices of diabetes” community initiative (www.changingdiabetes-us.com/voices/), Sanofi’s Go Insulin high production value videos showcased on YouTube (www.youtube.com/goinsulin), or Novo’s sponsorship of JDRF’s first social network for T1 diabetes patients, Juvenation (www.Junevation.org). The important distinction is that these efforts still rely on the user to visit the brand website or social media destination to view this content, and experience it at a point in time. The use of Twitter represents a new direction in sharing real patient experiences, and does it in such a way that people can follow a patient and go through experiences WITH them, as they are taking place, vs. having to get e-mails or check back on the site for new updates. So what’s on Charlie’s mind? Currently he’s tweeted 10 times since June 4th about a range of topics including ADA, race preparation, the weather in New Orleans and the cleanliness of his race suit (wouldn’t want that Novo logo on the front to get dirty), but no mention of diabetes or insulin yet.
Like every other social media channel, Twitter is not right for every brand or every disease state, but clearly this is a step toward Pharma breaking out of its corporate experimentation phase with Twitter and moving toward some strong promotional potential. From a user experience/patient perspective, imagine that you were just prescribed a new medication (maybe Novolog insulin), then being able to follow a real patient on the product as they provide updates via Twitter related to common questions, side-effect concerns, basic disease information, and other topics of interest to help keep you engaged (and compliant) with your therapy.
This is an excellent example of Novo putting its foot the gas and racing to the head of the pack -- at least when it comes to social media initiatives. We’re left to wonder if some of their competitors feel like they’ve just been lapped.
Source: Business Week
When Michael Roh, a sales representative for Genentech (DNA.), calls on physicians, he's never really on his own. The cloud is shadowing him.
A doctor may have a question Roh can't answer -- say, how Rituxan, one of the company's cancer drugs, will interact with another the physician is prescribing to a patient. Then Roh can use his smartphone to tap into Peeps, a Facebook-like directory of the Genentech staff. The application helps him find staffers with the expertise he needs. And if he can't speak to one of them or reach them by e-mail immediately, he can submit a question to Genentech's computing system for handling such queries. The system routes the query to the appropriate expert, who responds directly to the doctor.
These days, Roh doesn't bother to lug a laptop when he's on the road. He simply pockets his smartphone and he's off. The device provides all the computing power he needs to do his job. He can connect to cloud services, including Salesforce.com's sales management service and Google (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) Apps, from his car or a physician's office to do anything from checking on the latest uses of the drug to strategizing with colleagues. Says Roh: "I can do things more real-time."
The itunes Model
For Roh and 4,000 other Genentech employees who carry company-issued iPhones, dealing with their corporate computing systems is just like downloading songs from Apple's (AAPL) iTunes. That's because Genentech's tech staff built a Web site modeled on iTunes, where employees can select the applications they want and download them with one click. So far, the company has created 15 applications for the iPhone, including Peeps. "We're cutting down on the drag of technology so people can focus more of their intellectual energy and creativity on the important stuff," says Todd Pierce, vice-president for information technology.
Employees are supportive of the switch. Surveys show 85% are satisfied with their mobile-computing experience.
A complete list of yesterday's tweets. Thanks for following. If you would like to follow, go to http://www.twitter.com/skypen.
This blog-repost we removed per the author's request.
Below is a link to the presentation by Ron Ploof:
Johnson & Johnson Does New Media
Source: PharmaFocus
The Pharmaceutical Marketing Society is to showcase the best in digital media across the pharma and healthcare industry at a new annual awards event.
The Digital Media Awards are an acknowledgement of pharma's increasing engagement with new media forms, which has recently seen the industry explore online video channels and social media initiatives.
The inaugural Digital Media Awards will be held in London in October and joins the Society's well-established Advertising Awards in the industry's events calendar.
The new awards will be open to in-house pharma company teams along with digital media and technology specialists, and communications agencies, all of whom will be invited to submit work for a variety of categories.
These include corporate and product websites, online education, emerging technologies, e-detailing, patient support initiatives and e-learning programmes.
A panel of experts from the industry and agency world will judge the awards, which the PM Society said will provide companies with a chance to enter work into an industry competition that may not have been suitable for existing awards.
The inaugural Digital Media Awards will take place at a black-tie event on 1st October 2009 at The Brewery, London.
The full Entry Kit will be released on 1 July to PM Society members. Non-members can register for information updates by contacting Society secretary Vivian Bennett.
Source: Eye on FDA
Well, in most circumstances, not much. If you consider the fact that most pharmaceutical companies aren't engaged with Facebook on a widespread level at the current time, the fact that Facebook is making an interesting change to its pages doesn't seem particularly relevant.
But if you consider the things that the pharmaceutical industry shouldbe doing on Faceook, and probably one day will be - listen up.
In case you've been living under a rock, you will have heard that beginning Saturday, Facebook will allow people to set up their own vanity URLs. Right now, when you sign up for Facebook, your URL is a randomly assigned bunch of numbers and letters, which is a little odd. However, if you have a Twitter account, you have a URL that is www.twitter.com/YOURNAMEHERE.
So what?
Well, one thing that I've picked up on lately in Twitter is that someone has set up Twitter accounts with the name of nearly every major pharmaceutical company - meaning that if a pharmaceutical company wants to set up a Twitter feed in the future, they either have to unseat the squatter or put something additional to their existing name.
For example, Sanofi and Merck Serono each have Twitterfeeds with followers, but no logo and no updates. It would appear that people, thinking they were the real thing, signed up to follow them, even though there are no updates. In other words, it would appear that someone is squatting on the names of companies. If names can be squatted on Twitter, why not Facebook - and not just companies, but brand names.
So that is why, it might be a good idea for companies to consider their plans for social media now, rather than later - other than the fact that pharma companies are already so very far behind in utilization of new media.
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) will use a Web portal to collaborate with researchers around the world in an effort to discover drugs to treat cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and osteoporosis.
The move comes as many pharmaceutical companies are looking for ways to boost their drug pipelines, especially as new generic versions of their former blockbusters are released.
Lilly's shares were recently down 1.2% at $33.88 in premarket trading amid a broader market decline.
The pharmaceutical giant will launch the Lilly Phenotypic Drug Discovery Initiative, using a Web portal to evaluate the potential of compounds created in university and biotechnology laboratories.
The company said findings from the plan could be used as the basis for collaboration or licensing agreements between Lilly and external institutions.
Alan Palkowitz, vice president of discovery chemistry and research technology at Lilly, said every year, researchers design and synthesize compounds that aren't fully evaluated as potential drug candidates.
Lilly's program is designed to allow global researchers a more convenient entry point into the company's drug discovery and development process.
Researchers confidentially submit the structure of their compound for review using algorithms focused on drug-like properties. If the compound meets certain criteria, the researchers can submit a sample for biological testing.
Lilly will then provide the researchers a report with the compound's profile for Alzheimer's disease, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. In return for the data, Lilly will get the first rights to negotiate a collaboration or licensing agreement.
-By Kerry E. Grace, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5089; kerry.grace@ dowjones.com
Marcia Strassman on Facebook, patient advocate for Novartis. Taking Novartis' Oncology product Zometa.
Check out the facebook "fan page". Below is a slideshow of screenshots. Click on the image to scroll through.
SUMMARY
When social media emerged, many thought it was a fad or simply a communication technology for young people. It’s now clear that social media will continue to make a significant impact on how people and organizations communicate and operate. This event will showcase the best case studies of how leading healthcare organizations achieve marketing, communications, and educational objectives through the strategic use of social media.
EVENT DETAILS
We will cover the following questions:
Source: ePharm5
VideoMD.com says 2,500 physicians and healthcare providers are registered users on its platform. VideoMD lets physicians and healthcare practitioners upload videos directly to the site to inform patients about themselves, their practice, or specific medical procedures. Patients can find the doctors' videos by searching for them by name.
VideoMD also has a catalog of general health videos that practitioners can use to educate their patients. VideoMD.com launched in 2008.
A complete list of yesterday's tweets. Thanks for following. If you would like to follow, go to http://www.twitter.com/skypen.
