Online Networks !!
Social networking for physicians
Sermo, a social-networking site for physicians, thinks large investors may be willing to pay big bucks for doctors' collective insight . Sermo is an online community for physicians to post observations and questions about clinical issues and hear other doctors' opinions. It was originally imagined as an adverse effect reporting system. Reporting systems failed during the Vioxx recall from the market due to an increased risk of heart attacks. Daniel Palestrant, the founder of Sermo, believed that an online forum could collect and filter these types of observations more effectively than existing systems. The site has since grown into a discussion board covering a variety of clinical topics.
Physicians can register after verifying their status as licensed, practicing physicians and receive a pseudonym of their choice. This pseudonym and the doctor’s specialty are the only pieces of information that other doctors will be able to see automatically, making Sermo a credentialed, but anonymous community. Doctors post observations and comments, create and respond to polls, and browse medical articles within the site. They can also create profiles, revealing more information about themselves. This ability, and the closed nature of the site, has led some sources to refer to Sermo as a “MySpace" for Physicians.
Unlike most social networks, Sermo does not make money by advertising to its users. Instead, it makes money by selling access to physicians’ anonymized comments and polling data to financial institutions, health care organizations, and governmental bodies. Clients have the ability to read doctor’s comments and create a limited number of postings (identified as Client Postings) to which doctors respond. Clients have different reasons for seeking access. Financial institutions may want to trade on the wisdom of crowds that polling a number of doctors can create, trusting that this group of specially trained individuals will be better at predicting events like FDA approval than the market. Health care companies and organizations such as the American Medical Association may focus on discovering doctors’ usage patterns and may value direct access to physicians’ opinions and attitudes about health care today
Sermo, a social-networking site for physicians, thinks large investors may be willing to pay big bucks for doctors' collective insight . Sermo is an online community for physicians to post observations and questions about clinical issues and hear other doctors' opinions. It was originally imagined as an adverse effect reporting system. Reporting systems failed during the Vioxx recall from the market due to an increased risk of heart attacks. Daniel Palestrant, the founder of Sermo, believed that an online forum could collect and filter these types of observations more effectively than existing systems. The site has since grown into a discussion board covering a variety of clinical topics.
Physicians can register after verifying their status as licensed, practicing physicians and receive a pseudonym of their choice. This pseudonym and the doctor’s specialty are the only pieces of information that other doctors will be able to see automatically, making Sermo a credentialed, but anonymous community. Doctors post observations and comments, create and respond to polls, and browse medical articles within the site. They can also create profiles, revealing more information about themselves. This ability, and the closed nature of the site, has led some sources to refer to Sermo as a “MySpace" for Physicians.
Unlike most social networks, Sermo does not make money by advertising to its users. Instead, it makes money by selling access to physicians’ anonymized comments and polling data to financial institutions, health care organizations, and governmental bodies. Clients have the ability to read doctor’s comments and create a limited number of postings (identified as Client Postings) to which doctors respond. Clients have different reasons for seeking access. Financial institutions may want to trade on the wisdom of crowds that polling a number of doctors can create, trusting that this group of specially trained individuals will be better at predicting events like FDA approval than the market. Health care companies and organizations such as the American Medical Association may focus on discovering doctors’ usage patterns and may value direct access to physicians’ opinions and attitudes about health care today
posted by Srivathsan @ 4:05 AM
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