The health industry is definitely paying attention to social media as top hospital, Jefferson Health appoints a chief medical social media officer, Austin Chiang.
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Chiang is a Harvard-trained gastroenterologist with a side passion for social media. On Instagram, he refers to himself as a “GI Doctor.”
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According to Chiang, the antidote to fake health news is to drown out untrustworthy content with tweets, pics and posts from medical experts that the average American can relate to.
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He noted that doctors have historically been reluctant to build a following on social media for a variety of reasons. They view it as a waste of time, they don’t know how, or they fear they might say the wrong thing and get in trouble with an employer. Others prefer to spend their time communicating with their peers via academic journals. But as Chiang points out, most consumers do not pore over the latest scientific literature. So health professionals need to take the time to start connecting with them where they do spend their time — and that’s on Facebook and Instagram.To spread these ideas, he’s set up a new group for health professionals dubbed the Association for Healthcare Social Media.
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What do you think of the position? Cool or not.
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