Would you check in at your next checkup? Healthcare and location-based social networks

Sep 07

Would you check in at your next checkup? Healthcare and location-based social networks

by Chris Heydt
Category: Digital Influence, Healthcare, Mobile and Location

location_based_social_networks

This past week I came across some interesting new research that suggests that when it comes to online social networking, people are more likely to change health-affecting habits when encouraged to do so by online conversations with friends they already know well and with whom they are in close contact. In essence, the research suggests that the “redundancies and repetitiveness that characterizes interactions among close groups of friends is a central driving force behind encouraging people to change their health behaviors.”

This aligns with word of mouth statistics showing that recommendations from a friend or family member are the most trusted sources of information. Similar to the impact of close personal relationships, local community businesses have the opportunity to utilize their proximity and relationship with their local community to serve a similar role.

With the number of local health facilities embarking into social media continuing to rise – which now boasts 825 facilities based on Ed Bennett’s Hospital Social Networking List – here are some ways that local healthcare facilities can utilize location-based social media to affect health behaviors.

Facebook Places: Facebook has shown promise as the go-to platform for many healthcare facilities – most notably hospitals.

Places as Social Health Grader – With the launch of Places, these facilities can expect consumers to begin utilizing the commenting function to grade their experiences. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities should start looking at this tool as a grader of their service.
Opportunities for Location-based Marketing– While there is currently no way to target Facebook ads to people who have checked in at a location, Facebook does allow you to target people who ‘Like’ your Place page if you have performed a Page to Place merge.

Foursquare: As Foursquare and other location-based social networks continue to gain mainstream traction, their uses for hospitals and other healthcare facilities is beginning to take shape.

Awareness – With the launch of MTV’s Get Yourself Tested badge, we can expect other awareness initiatives will begin leveraging the platform. As cold and flu season approaches, the opportunity to drive vaccinations when consumers are on-site presents a great opportunity to reach a captive audience.
Relationship Building Through Tips – A unique advantage of healthcare facilities is that they have a general understanding of why people are visiting…something health related. Whether that is a recurring visit due to a long-term illness, or a sports injury, they still have the advantage of being able to provide useful tips and recommendations based on their general sense of why consumers are at their location.
Cross-platform Integration – According to Fox ePractice, Foursquare has confirmed that they are implementing the Facebook Places API to their service–allowing Foursquare check ins to be pushed to Facebook. This will allow hospitals to link their existing Facebook properties with the growing Foursquare user base (which just surpassed 3 million registrants last month).

There are just a few ideas on how Facebook Places and Foursquare could work for hospitals. How do you see location-based social networking impacting the healthcare industry?

Image courtesy theeyeworks.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at 9:37 am and is filed under Digital Influence, Healthcare, Mobile and Location. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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TAGS: Tags: geolocation, Healthcare, hospitals, location-based social

13 Responses to “Would you check in at your next checkup? Healthcare and location-based social networks”

CommDiscussion Says:
September 7th, 2010 at 9:53 am
I’m really interested to see how the medical industry uses these social media tools as well.
Srilakshmi Says:
September 7th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
I see a tremendous potential to apply this in emergencies, especially for matching blood donors and immediate medical help.
mary Says:
September 7th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
This is a meaningful article.
Chris Heydt Says:
September 8th, 2010 at 10:35 am
@CommDiscussion - It’s certainly a sector that will continue to develop as the industry becomes more comfortable in the space.

@Srilakshmi - I’m glad you brought up the emergency topic. I agree that it would be great to leverage these tools for emergency situations. We are already seeing emergency responders and relief organization like the ARC utilizing Twitter during disasters. In incidents which cause people to be displaced - like a hurricane or tornado - I could see check-ins become useful in locating victims. Emergency blood donations seem a bit tricky to me - you probably don’t want to depend on someone checking in order to reach them if the need is that urgent. However, they could be a great channel to encourage donations in general.

@mary - thanks
Michael Maier Says:
September 10th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Thank you for this great posting. I have recently started using foursquare (about 20 days ago) and I definitely think healthcare and foursquare have a relationship. I’m not quite sure what it is…this article helps point a direction. I’ll keep you posted if I can help it gain any traction our organization.

- Michael Maier
e-Learning Manager,
Froedtert Health
Chris Heydt Says:
September 13th, 2010 at 7:52 am
@Michael - Thanks for your feedback. Please do keep me posted on how things are going as you experiment with Foursquare for Froedtert Health. The ideas I’ve provided are certainly a starting point, but hands-on implementation will be the true test.
Rachael Brownell Says:
September 17th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Hi Chris,
Great article! My org has been funded by CDC to help health educators use social media to get more people immunized.. We’ve been focusing on messaging, but I wonder if using geo-location would work in this case (Health Dep A is having a free flu clinic *here*, etc. etc.)..?? I wonder how we can teach people who often know very little about social media and are petrified about privacy issues, to get comfortable “getting located”
Marion Hauser - Caring Medical Prolotherapy Says:
September 22nd, 2010 at 9:36 am
Great article! Our practice has begun using social media and blogging rather extensively to connect with people looking for alternatives for dealing with chronic pain and sports injuries. I find that people both learn about their options and feel more comfortable contacting us because of these communities. As we build a base of happy patients, we find more of them interested in sharing their experiences. This article makes me think geolocation may work for us!
Chris Heydt Says:
September 22nd, 2010 at 10:39 am
@Rachael - Thanks for the feedback. Your flu clinic promotion idea is great! @coreyrawdon took it a step further by suggesting a Foursquare 2010 Flu badge, which would extend the message further (similar to the GYT badge I mentioned in the post). Changing peoples’ attitudes about ‘getting located’ is a much larger issue, which I believe is best addressed as location continues to go mainstream. By promoting the location at your facility (on collateral, signage, etc), you can help build that comfort.

@Marion - Thanks, Marion. It’s really interesting that you bring up sports injuries. The value that athletes place in the recommendations of other athletes is very high (from physical therapists to surgeons) - having experienced a ruptured achillies myself, I can definitely relate. It’s great to hear about your efforts to integrate social media into your communication. As you begin experimenting with these tools I would also ensure that you are listening to how your patients are talking about your facility (whether that be on Health Grader or Foursquare). Acting on what you learn from their feedback can start to change those patients into your biggest advocates.
Marion Hauser - Caring Medical Prolotherapy Says:
September 22nd, 2010 at 11:16 am
@Chris: Will look into both more deeply. We do some “listening”, and it’s been helpful for us to connect with our patients. I think Health Grader and Foursquare will both be good platforms to embrace.
Mitch L Says:
November 4th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Say a hospital decided to join Foursquare, allowing guests, visitors and patients to check-in when getting there. Would the patients check-in when they get to the entire hospital or should they be more specific and check-in somewhere inside the hospital (for back surgery, pediatrics, neurology area, etc.)?
Wilmer Pellowski Says:
July 16th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your article seem to be running off the screen in Opera. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The style and design look great though! Hope you get the issue resolved soon. Thanks
Eli Muff Says:
July 30th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
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