Blogs & Pharma part 1 - Intro

So blogs; if marketing commentators aren't talking about them, they're writing them. But does this make blogs and other social media a force that pharma can't ignore? Should we take the step out into the unknown, potentially risking all sorts of backlash to become involved in this modern communications phenomenon?

Talk to anyone involved in social media and they'll look at you like an idiot if you question the impact of blogging. There were moments like this at the International Word of Mouth Conference earlier this month in Amsterdam. During one pro-blogging presentation, Dr Peeter Verlegh of Erasmus University openly challenged the presenter on what percentage of the general population could actually be involved in blogging - there was stunned silence.

Over a few posts on this fledgling blog I want to explore these questions, challenge a few assumptions and by the end see if there is a way forward for pharma, blogs and social media. I say challenge assumptions because I feel that there's an accepted wisdom building about the power of blogging that reminds me of the blind faith behind the first dot-com bubble (but then I also thought the same about that new search engine Google, so just goes to show...). At the same time, the power of word of mouth in healthcare is undeniable and social media would seem to tap into it. Let's see where we get to....