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Or for that matter, to enter the New Media space in any way, as a medical professional.
Today’s show answers the “Why now?” question using an analogy any medpro can relate to: the elective timing of a necessary surgery.
- You can “pay me now,” taking care of the inevitable on your own terms, at the lowest risk to you, with the greatest chance of success.
- Or you can “pay me later,” when you’re dragged puking and feverish into an emergency operation, with all your important choices being made by others.
The digital — or New Medical Media — space, is wide open, for now. But like any rich and unoccupied niche, it’s only a matter of time before it gets filled. Once it does, by your competitors or colleagues, it’ll be much harder for you to stand out, and be chosen by new patients searching for health care providers on the Internet.
And believe it: it is only a matter of time before you are pushed or pulled into the digital space, by the organizational forces you are beholden to, or your patients. EVERYONE is either communicating here, or will be.
It’s time.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I would disagree that unoccupied mediums is incentive enough to get into something. Podcasts still faces many limitations of the surfing the internet including the need for headphones if in a public space, classroom, etc
Agreed. Podcasting, whether pure audio or video, is not trivial to produce well. See my latest posts…but having some kind of presence on the Internet is going to become increasingly important in American medicine.
More and more patients will turn to the Internet to find their doctors, and ultimately, to compare their doctors. After all, that’s pretty much what many if not most people in general do now. The patient demographic will simply reflect that of the public at large.
Not having an Internet presence — and preferably, a good sized footprint, there — will be a big step in the direction of invisibility.