I had an interesting discussion the other day about whether or not Healthcare CEOs should be on Twitter.
Of course they should.
Lets get right down to it.
Right now, healthcare exists in a mixture of a 1.0 and 2.0 Universe.
By this I mean healthcare organizations have recently transferred from paper charts (which I consider 1.0 technology) to electronic health records (which I consider 2.0 technology). Their digital platform went from a static webpage to an interactive one – now with the ability to pay bills, and perhaps answer questions. Also, most healthcare organizations have some presence on social media – usually a link to Twitter or Facebook at the bottom of the page.
Delving into Healthcare 2.0 and social media a little further, usually a healthcare organization’s approach to social media is still from the perspective of marketing and broadcasting rather than true interaction with the patient population. There has yet to be a significant focus on ways to measurably improve their patient’s health in a via social media.
( I suspect the slow pace of innovation within healthcare social media is probably driven by healthcare’s DNA, which is generally conservative. On the upside, with leading-edge organizations such as the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, this will change over time.)
However, like it or not, Healthcare 3.0 is on the way.
So what do I mean by Healthcare 3.0? This would be Healthcare 2.0, plus such technologies as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, The Internet of Things, and The Semantic Web.
These technologies are not embedded within most healthcare organizations, but they are the bread and butter of companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
And these companies? These will be every healthcare organizations competition in the near future.
So lets close the loop: Here’s the reason a typical healthcare CEO needs to tweet.
Twitter, within the context of the social media universe, links together all the different elements of social media , whether that’s Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
In a Web 2.0 Universe, and the subset of a Healthcare 2.0 Universe, Twitter is a nodal point. In addition, under the hood of Twitter, is a significant set of accessible Web 3.0 Data and tools, similar to the mention similar to the ones we mentioned above.
Learn the language of Twitter in healthcare, and you are learning the language of Healthcare 2.0.
So, when a CEO learns to tweet, he’s not just learning something about Twitter, he’s learning something about the entire Healthcare 2.0 Universe and stepping into the Web 3.0 Universe.
Why is this essential?
Because the opportunities within Healthcare 3.0 are huge, but the 3.0 Universe is complex, and the entry fee into understanding it is some practical knowledge of the Healthcare 2.0 Universe.
Bottom line: If the CEO can’t figure out Twitter, he’s going to have a really difficult time understanding Blockchain.