Cut people some slack *please*
Posted on 29. Jul, 2010 by neilcrump in Communications, Industry, Web 2.0
Back in August last year I wrote a post about how we were at the ‘toddler’ stage for the use of social media by pharma companies and that a few elite athletes were starting to flex their muscles and show us what they are made of.
So a year has passed and has much changed? Are there any gold medals to award? Well the honest answers are “not a lot” and “maybe a few”…
The Dose of Digital Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Wiki, run by Jonathan Richman, has not expanded exponentially, although some good (mainly US) examples of good practice were awarded ‘Dosies’. However, even in the US, where (from this side of the Atlantic) social media appeared to have started to run wild and free, like a majestic herd of wildebeests, the FDAs (slow) assessment of the use of digital seems to have at least penned up the herd a little.
There are however encouraging signs of growth, even here in the UK, where early shiny green shoots are starting to appear, and like the shoots that appear in Spring, they make you feel hopeful, confident and relieved that the Summer is on the way.
In just the last few weeks there has been much chat about two UK programmes in particular:
- Pfizer’s Man Mot (Dominic Tyer at InPharma did a great write up)
- Janssen-Cilag’s Living with ADHD YouTube channel (John Mack wrote about this on his blog)
This is properly pioneering (and correct) use of the web to create dialogue with people that want to chat – marvellous. Having worked for, and with, pharma companies for a long time in healthcare communications this is a MASSIVE sea change. Guess what – this change didn’t happen by magic, or through of a company saying “let’s give social media a try because it is what everyone wants us to do”.
Oh no my friends, there are individuals in these organisations who have busted a gut to make them happen. My guess is there were months of meetings and a LOT of heated debate with regulatory affairs, legal and medical departments – but they did it. I have run these kind of meetings for clients. They are hard work, and there is block, after hurdle, after open man hole cover to avoid and overcome. This can lead to the faint hearted getting disenfranchised and giving up. Hey, if these folk are so passionate about social media they can easily go and have amazing careers in other sectors where they could quickly excel! But these pharma social media athletes are committed, they are passionate and they want to succeed in the pharma sector.
There are people in pharma (quite a lot in fact) that hate social media, the Aurora team explore this on our YouTube channel.
I don’t want this post to come across as sycophantic or gushy on this topic. Neither am I some sole maverick attempting to defend the pharma industry – I’m just healthcare comms guy Neil from London, who loves his cat and a pint of cold fizzy larger.
So what do I want to say? Well I passionately believe that discussion and constructive criticism of pharma use of social media is paramount – this activity MUST be encouraged, MUST be championed, MUST be nurtured. The same mistakes made over and over again will be good for no-one involved. We all need to learn from each other.
However, concurrently to this approach I want to assert, as politely as possible, that as pharma companies venture into this uncharted territory, that our early champions MUST be encouraged, MUST be championed, MUST be nurtured.
Otherwise we will lose them and we will be back to square one, and that would be a terrible shame.
Phil Baumann
29. Jul, 2010
Well said, Neil – and a very important point for encouraging the champions instead of squandering time on bashing the industry for late adoption.
There’s a vast array of considerations and factors and responsibilities – and consequences – involved in the integration of emerging media into an industries like Life Sciences.
Interestingly, it may actually be the “laggardness” of Pharma which may ultimately end up creating the opportunity for long-term viability and sustainability.
We’d all love to have life-saving drugs come to the market immediately – but that’s not the reality of doing so safely and effectively. Same premise applies to Life Sciences and social media.
@PhilBaumann
neilcrump
29. Jul, 2010
As I published this post @jonmrich posted an excellent Dose of Digital blog post interviewing @garymonk the brand manager responsible for the JC ADHD YouTube channel mentioned above. There is come excellent best practice here. Please share this with your clients and with your colleagues in-house. This is a really useful learning for all of us: http://www.doseofdigital.com/2010/07/pharma-successfully-manages-youtube/
Paul Dixey
29. Jul, 2010
I agree with your comments Neil; it is all too easy for the spectators to criticise without understanding the time, hard work and perseverance that these pioneers have had to put in, all the while being aware that there are people, both outside and inside their organisations, who are just waiting to say “I told you so”
To continue your sporting analogy and with the Tour de France just finished I am starting to detect a small breakaway group, who exchange maillots jaune for each étape (therapy area or project) and who have opened up a gap from the rest of pack. The longer the chasing pack take to try new stuff, perhaps even being held back by their own “support crew”, the more difficult they will find it to catch up the leading group; the pack will only be able to watch, struggling to find first gear, as the leaders try new techniques, increase in confidence and race up the Champs-Élysées to the applause of physicians, employees and shareholders.
Andrew Spong
30. Jul, 2010
I’ve been all stick and no carrot recently, so props to you, Neil, for putting this all in context.
That said: whilst we love #failbetter (develop a new idea; when it falls over, stop. Try something else), we’re not overly enamoured with #failagain (make a mistake; repeat)
New colleagues join the health conversation every day. They need to be welcomed in order to imprint the idea (as well as manifest in fact) that this is a new environment with a positive outlook and a predilection to share, not hoard.
New colleagues ideas need to be heard. I love the social web’s emancipatory, democratizing potential: there is no hierarchy of importance in the social web. Organic follower growth signifies nothing. Turn up with a good idea today, and tomorrow (or later this afternoon) you could be a thought leader.
That’s great, and in order to nurture this attitudinal disposition (as well as making sure we are still capable of hearing, and learning from, new entrants) we will always need to hold out a helping hand to share learnings with newcomers.
However, this doesn’t reduce the role of those who have been around for a little longer (and everything is relative) to that of avuncular ‘Meeters and Greeters’.
If anything, it raises the stakes for the ‘veterans’
We know what to do (within the purview of the moving horizon of our future present), but more importantly – far more importantly – we know what not to do (usually).
The focus of this ramble exposition is: we have responsibilities: those who have been here longest should be doing more, and whilst we should always be supportive, IMO constructive criticism is not inappropriate.
Name calling, stone throwing; no.
Asking: ‘we’ve been here before, so what are you going to do next time to make sure that you don’t make the same mistake, and how can we help you make that happen?’
Absolutely.
@andrewspong
neilcrump
30. Jul, 2010
Hi Andrew – love this comment and as always beautifully expressed. I think sites like Dose of Digital and also the #hcsmeu wiki have an important role to play. I for one will be writing up best practice learnings from the #hcsmeu tweet-ups, work for clients and stuff I read on the wiki to gather this knowledge. #failagain: bad, #failbetter: good and we can all make an impact on making sure that the latter happens. N :+))
Heather Young
11. Aug, 2010
As the Community Manager for TSN, I guess I’m biased to think Pfizer has graduated from the “toddler” stages of social media. Through TSN we provide our science and medical professionals with a unique and open platform to blog about their work and interest in science in a way that we think is really innovative.
Our goal is to create community and engage in conversations with our peers and the science-interested public — and we’re just beginning to achieve this on our site.
I’m excited to be part of social media program at a big pharma company that I think is really innovative and helping to set the bar for others trying to navigate this “uncharted territory”.
Thanks again for this post and the encouraging comments here.