A couple of interesting snippets from the white paper on this year's study titled "Physicians and Web 2.0 - Five Things You Should Know about the Evolving Online Landscape for Physicians. Even when viewed with a skeptical eye to compensate for the impact of market research hype, this information can be useful for us to consider as we plan for where this particular target audience will in 24 to 36 months.
"targeting a physician audience can be summed up with the acronym "VBP" which stands for Video, Blogs and Podcasting."
The latest findings from Manhattan Research (Taking the Pulse v7.0) reveal that 508,000 physicians are using online video today (for any reason). This is very important to know. However, it is more important to think about the large shift from text and image-based content online to that of full-motion video content as a preferred format already used by the majority of physicians."
Regarding blog usage among physicians:
"Perhaps even more interesting is the profile of the segment of physicians authoring blogs today - these are younger, savvier, online physicians, right? Wrong. Those with a voice online tend to be older with more professional experience- essentially representing the true "physician blogger" with something to say - while the young audience may be more likely to listen and then perhaps join in the resulting conversation later."
And this which is even much closer to our profile of being a teaching hospital:
Finally, physicians based in academic medical centers are significantly more likely to participate in online communities with physicians-perhaps viewing the online channel as simply an extension of their peer-to-peer communication with their colleagues in the halls and corridors.
Click here for link to five page white paper
