Social Media Usage and Promotional Intentions

Researchers at Center for the Digital Future at USC's Annenberg School reported the following web insight November 9th:

"Web Insight 58: Why do you visit social networking or video-sharing websites such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Hi5?"

 
Where's the RESEARCH reason? When asked in a non-task directed way, users in this cohort didn't volunteer using social networking sites for research/information seeking purposes.

The social media data point above is drawn from a dataset used to compile the annual Digital Future report that the Center for the Digital Future has been publishing since 2000. From a Center press release: " The Digital Future Project surveys more than 2,000 individuals across the United States, each year contacting the same households to explore how online technology affects the lives of Internet users and non-users. It also examines how changing technology, such as the shift from Internet access by modem to broadband, affects behavior."

I've been thinking about the answers in the graph above compared to the expectations and experiences discussed at last week's FDA Part 15 public hearing on Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products using the Internet and Social Media Tools. The hearing was FDA's first step toward developing guidelines for digital marketing in this regulated industry. 

I know, the data presented above is an orange compared to the applied use of social media in healthcare (an apple)!  Manhattan Research recently presented findings that note 35% of US adults use social media for health information. There's plenty of market research that shows health information seekers use the Internet, search engines, and online communities in their quest for information. Social media--blogs, chat rooms, social networking sites, message boards are starting to gain traction for information seekers interested in patient testimonials and stories. Yet the Pew Internet and American Life project's June 2009 report, "The Social Life of Health Information" notes that "Social networking sites are used only sparingly for health queries and updates."

Regardless of the speed of acceptance by consumers of using social media for health information, how do pharma/CPG organizations promote their products, services, mission, et al in a digital environment that increasingly demands transparency and inclusion of user-generated content (i.e., stuff organizations cannot control)?  Can promotion mix with "conversation," conversation being the primary mode of most social media environments?

Many pharma companies are taking a "wait and see" stance on these questions.

At the FDA social media meeting only four Pharma/CPG companies presented--Lilly, J&J, sanofi-aventis, and Pfizer; the remaining 70+ timeslots were filled by healthcare information agencies, pundits, patients/patient advocates, and healthcare IT vendors. The suppliers working with pharma and CPG companies are doing their best to help these organizations use digital channels such as social media effectively--but can healthcare social media sites/tools become trustworthy, authorative problem-solving/research destinations for healthcare information seekers? Or are they simply ethnographic waystations, offering patient color commentary to an information seeker's goals/needs?  

Jonathan Richman keeps track of the pharma and healthcare social media sites as they emerge on his Pharma and Healthcare Social Media wiki. This wiki is a great resource for those who want to watch use of social media in pharma/healthcare evolve. Most of the sites listed here are not destinations for "relaxation, social interaction, and escape." Some are promotional or educational; many are helpful resources for information seekers with specific conditions and caretakers of those with specific conditions. 

Just a couple of the key questions that remain for Pharma/CPG organizations:

1. Are all digital utterances of an organization by individuals within it legally a "promotion" or a "promise/offer?"
2. How does a digital conversation within an online community or social network site differ from a phone call or conference call?

Is the answer as easy as Stewart Brand's sign-on message for the The Well, back in 1985?  "You own your own words..."