I have always loved to look at data. Some times I have no idea what I am viewing, but I love numbers and what they tell us. I have been fortunate to be involved with the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, as a board member, over the past few years (for more info on joining click here). Being involved in the MCCSM has allowed me access to really smart people and interesting sets of data and insights.
If you surf over to their site you can, publicly access, the Healthcare Social Media List – originally created by Ed Bennett. This will tell you, relative to a given state, how many hospitals are using social media and which platforms (limited to: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, foursquare, LinkedIn, Blogs) they are using. Granted this is self reported but it gives you and good idea of focus and adoption.
To sum it up I have created a simple interactive infographic (below) where you can toggle around and see of the 1501 reported hospitals and healthcare systems how many use any of the noted platforms.
Insights
At face value I have a couple of thoughts relative to these numbers:
- Foursquare usage is almost the same as Facebook – It is interesting to me that foursquare has almost the same adoption as Facebook. I think some of this is relative to the one and done nature of foursquare. Most organizations don’t see foursquare as a daily platform.
- LinkedIn is much lower than Twitter – The largest asset of any hospital or healthcare system is it’s people. LinkedIn is a great way to supplement the current recruitment strategy. I would wager a guess that most could come up with a more impactful way to use LinkedIn versus Twitter.
- Blogs hardly register – This is not a surprise to me. Blogs are hard work. They take time, commitment, and the right culture. It is easier to post a picture on Facebook than to work with clinical staff to create good content for heart month for example.
Spend a few minutes with the interactive graphic below. What does this tell you… or not tell you?
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