Coming Up: A Big Week in Pharma Social Media

It’s only Monday morning and already the news hopper here at Impactiviti is brim-full with pharma social media stuff. That’s a good thing!

The Biggest Deal – Finally, after months of cajoling from all quarters (and John Mack gets a big handclap for his relentless calls to make this happen), the FDA has decided to call a public hearing on the use of social media/Web 2.0 approaches to pharma communications. This makes a lot of us very happy! Fabio Gratton put this post out on Friday as the news broke, and you’ll also want to read John Mack’s overview of the specific questions FDA will seek to address. One word of caution – there can be a very long time lapse between holding hearings, and taking action, when you’re dealing with FDA. But hey – it’s a step in the right direction, anyway, and long overdue!

Also, finally, the FDA is now on Twitter. It’s just one-way communications about drug info, but once again – a start.

And, while we’re at it, the use of social media tools among healthcare professionals is getting more attention.

Plus, this week’s conference on Pharma Marketing (with lots of emphasis on eMarketing/Social Media:

I’ll be speaking at this conference on “Where’s the low-hanging fruit in pharma social media?, and live-blogging/Twittering. There will also be a tweetup at Princeton’s Triumph Brewery on Wednesday evening – here’s the invite.

How about a live streaming audio event on Tuesday. Sure – there’s an app for that. John Mack hosts a discussion with some of the organizers of the upcoming Digital Pharma conference (yes, I’m included – I’m planning to be at four ePharma conferences this fall) at 11:00 am EST. Sign up here!

From last Friday – my listing of your Top Four Pharma Social Media resources.

Oh, and why is J&J leading the pack in pharma social media? Read this interesting interview with Marc Monseau. In my mind, here’s the money quote:

One of the unique aspects about Marc’s Twitter profile is that he openly represents Johnson & Johnson without losing his personal identity. This might not sound particularly groundbreaking; yet most pharmaceutical corporate Twitter profiles are stripped of personal identity, whilst most pharmaceutical communicators use Twitter for personal, non-corporate communication only and are cautious about mentioning their pharmaceutical employer.

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