New Delhi: April 1, 2021
With social media having gone mainstream across the world, organisations – small and large, are not only looking for aggressive ownership in this new media pie, but also working out unique ways of keeping their constituents informed and engaged across multiple channels that predominantly include Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Flickr. The premise obviously being that the world is shifting to a new form of communication and interaction, and people (in this case, patients) are in need of simple yet transparent ways of learning and sharing information.
Twitter, the much beloved social networking site, is set to take on disease outbreaks. Having real-time information available in the public domain through social media like Twitter could be revolutionary for health officials watching out for the first clues to new, emerging infectious diseases in our communities and for modernizing our public health system.
Studies of the covid pandemic demonstrated that social media trends could indicate disease outbreaks earlier than conventional surveillance methods. However, many Web-based apps are retrospective, looking back on a disease outbreak, as opposed to attempting to identify health trends as they emerge in real time.
As the World Health Organization issued health reports, for example on Coronavirus or West Nile Virus, “We were able to see how those reports sort of moved around the social media Twittersphere, and that’s valuable information, because it also gives information as to how far out their reports have gone, how long people are actually talking about it.”
Early identification allows health officials to respond quickly, including advising people on how to protect their health and minimize the spread of the disease. Officials say these strategies can help the community recover quickly from an outbreak or a public health emergency – potentially even heading off a pandemic.
Social media for Indian healthcare is big
The hospital industry in India is forecast to increase to Rs. 8.6 trillion (US$ 132.84 billion) by FY22. Increasing consumer awareness and rising lifestyle diseases are some of the main reasons for booming opportunity in this segment. Apart from consumers, the large medical community comprising physicians, specialists and doctors also need to be constantly updated with the information. Healthcare professionals many times make recommendations; they talk when customers come to them directly. When people purchase drugs over-the-counter, they need recommendation and advice. So, one of the first steps to deliver information to consumers is to tell the professionals so that they can pass it on.
The advantages of social media aren’t being properly addressed in Indian healthcare, where doctors envision a chat room occupied solely by patients who spread rumors and gossip. If that chat room was overseen by a clinician, the information exchanged would be accurate. The physician would know that his or her patient was getting important information, and the patient would know that the information was reliable.
