Facebook has been having a difficult week, but this does give us an opportunity to reflect on what Facebook is, and what it means, in particular with regards to the truth.
When considering its role in patient complaints and reviews for healthcare organizations, here is something that everyone in one’s Marketing Department is familiar with – the tendency for people who post to be either highly positive or highly negative.
It’s all about being being a 5-star or a 1-star poster in the emotionally-charged healthcare arena.
Attached are the Reviews Ratings of four high quality quality healthcare organizations – from left to right: The Cleveland Clinic, The Everett Clinic, Swedish Hospital, and Providence, all flipped on their sides.
These bar graphs do not show a normal distribution; instead they show a binomial distribution.
To me, this implies that the Star Rating doesn’t represent the overall quality of the organization.
Instead, it represents the ratio of motivation level of people who really love you vs. the people who really hate you.
Is that your intent?
If not, consider deleting your Facebook Reviews section.