Part A: Opportunities and Challenges That Social Media Poses to the Healthcare Industry
“Social Media is a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). It was originally created as a personal and social tool, allowing friends and family to connect via the internet, but has grown to become a business tool as well, as organisations now adopt enterprise social media (ESM) as a way to strengthen performance and promote collaboration (Gritt and Forsgren, 2018). According to Schlagwein and Hu (2016), there are five social media use types that are found in organisations: collaboration, broadcast, sociability, dialogue, and knowledge management. The different uses of social media have made it invaluable in many industries, however this essay will focus on the healthcare industry, exploring how this technological trend is able to drastically affect the present and future of medical services and pharmaceuticals. While social media has created many opportunities for the healthcare industry, it also has its drawbacks that need to be considered. This essay will first highlight the opportunities it provides, covering four of five social media use types as identified by Schlagwein and Hu (2016): dialogue, collaboration, broadcast, and sociability. This essay will then address the challenges that it poses to the industry, discussing issues with patient privacy, poor quality information, lack of professionalism, and
Social media inspires dialogue and collaboration between professionals within the healthcare industry, allowing them to share information and knowledge, and to crowdsource solutions. Many social networks have been formed especially for the healthcare industry, with tools allowing them to discuss healthcare policies and medications, exchange techniques, receive expert advice and etc. (Lee Ventola, 2014). This is a form of collaboration as it leads to potential improvements in medical procedures, drugs, and health outcomes of patients. An example of this is the International Hernia Collaboration Facebook group, a platform which allows surgeons to discuss and improve their work (Myers, 2017). In this group, surgeons post questions and various types of media showing their techniques, enlisting feedback and help from fellow professionals to facilitate better patient outcomes (Myers, 2017). For instance, one member in particular – Dr. Ghaferi, was able to learn about a new technique for abdominal surgery from viewing videos and keeping up with discussion threads as well as creating posts requesting input from other experts (Myers, 2017). This allowed Dr. Ghaferi to add this technique to his repertoire and help his patients, showing that the social network provides an opportunity for members to “leverage the collective intelligence” of the group, collaborating to solve problems and create soluti...
