Jeffrey Benabio, MD

If you’ve ever heard someone say, "I’ve been pinning for an hour. I’m addicted!" and had no idea what this person was talking about, I have one word for you: Pinterest.

Pinterest is a fabulously popular social media site that allows users to find, share, and organize images called "pins" that are displayed or "pinned" on electronic "boards." A "board" is like a digital folder that helps you organize your pins. For example, you might have boards for Healthy Recipes, Exercise, and Places I’ve Traveled. Images are uploaded from the web or from your own computer or smartphone. Since it’s social, users can "like" other people’s pins, comment on them, and "repin" or share them. They can also add friends and become part of a "pin group board," where you and selected others upload pins to the shared boards.

Why is this important for you and your medical practice? Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing social media sites in history. It launched in March 2010, and by October 2012 it had reached more than 25,000,000 active monthly users and debuted on the list of top 50 most-visited web sites in the United States.

According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of adults who are online are searching for health, and Pinterest is another social media channel you can use to reach them. If you’re thinking, "But I already do Twitter and Facebook," consider this: Approximately 80% of Pinterest users are female and, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, women make 80% of health care decisions for their families. See the connection? It’s not farfetched to posit that Pinterest may turn out to be one of the most effective social media sites for the health care industry.

Because many people are visual learners, Pinterest can be an effective tool for patient education. Several renowned institutions, including St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, use Pinterest effectively to educate the public, share patient stories, and discuss newsworthy topics.

As physicians, you can use Pinterest similarly to build your brand and help market your practice more creatively.

You’ll find that Pinterest is very easy to learn and use. And because it’s a visual site with little to no text, it requires minimal effort on your part, or your staff’s part. A few minutes per day or every few days are sufficient to establish a presence and make connections.

There are many ways you can use Pinterest to build brand awareness and reach patients. Here are a few:

• Explain how medical or cosmetic procedures work, such as fillers and sclerotherapy.

• Explain how medical devices work, such as lasers and dermatoscopes.

• Generate awareness of medical conditions, such as psoriasis, eczema, and skin cancers. Infographics are especially effective.

• Provide inspiration. Many skin conditions are psychologically challenging. Pinning inspirational images can give patients hope.

• Share your product recommendations.

• Share uplifting patient stories and testimonials.

• Introduce and update the public to you, your staff, your office, and your services.

As for creating pin boards, the categories are endless, but here are some ideas to get you started: Patient Stories, Healthy Skin Habits, Sun Safety, Before and After, Acne Tips, Cosmetic Services, Parenting Tips, Words of Inspiration, and Meet Our Staff.

If you haven’t been on Pinterest yet, take a visit there and explore what it has to offer. And don’t be surprised if you become addicted.

Dr. Benabio is physician director at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc, and on Facebook (DermDoc).

If you’ve ever heard someone say, "I’ve been pinning for an hour. I’m addicted!" and had no idea what this person was talking about, I have one word for you: Pinterest.

Pinterest is a fabulously popular social media site that allows users to find, share, and organize images called "pins" that are displayed or "pinned" on electronic "boards." A "board" is like a digital folder that helps you organize your pins. For example, you might have boards for Healthy Recipes, Exercise, and Places I’ve Traveled. Images are uploaded from the web or from your own computer or smartphone. Since it’s social, users can "like" other people’s pins, comment on them, and "repin" or share them. They can also add friends and become part of a "pin group board," where you and selected others upload pins to the shared boards.

Why is this important for you and your medical practice? Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing social media sites in history. It launched in March 2010, and by October 2012 it had reached more than 25,000,000 active monthly users and debuted on the list of top 50 most-visited web sites in the United States.

According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of adults who are online are searching for health, and Pinterest is another social media channel you can use to reach them. If you’re thinking, "But I already do Twitter and Facebook," consider this: Approximately 80% of Pinterest users are female and, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, women make 80% of health care decisions for their families. See the connection? It’s not farfetched to posit that Pinterest may turn out to be one of the most effective social media sites for the health care industry.

Because many people are visual learners, Pinterest can be an effective tool for patient education. Several renowned institutions, including St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, use Pinterest effectively to educate the public, share patient stories, and discuss newsworthy topics.

As physicians, you can use Pinterest similarly to build your brand and help market your practice more creatively.

You’ll find that Pinterest is very easy to learn and use. And because it’s a visual site with little to no text, it requires minimal effort on your part, or your staff’s part. A few minutes per day or every few days are sufficient to establish a presence and make connections.

There are many ways you can use Pinterest to build brand awareness and reach patients. Here are a few:

• Explain how medical or cosmetic procedures work, such as fillers and sclerotherapy.

• Explain how medical devices work, such as lasers and dermatoscopes.

• Generate awareness of medical conditions, such as psoriasis, eczema, and skin cancers. Infographics are especially effective.

• Provide inspiration. Many skin conditions are psychologically challenging. Pinning inspirational images can give patients hope.

• Share your product recommendations.

• Share uplifting patient stories and testimonials.

• Introduce and update the public to you, your staff, your office, and your services.

As for creating pin boards, the categories are endless, but here are some ideas to get you started: Patient Stories, Healthy Skin Habits, Sun Safety, Before and After, Acne Tips, Cosmetic Services, Parenting Tips, Words of Inspiration, and Meet Our Staff.

If you haven’t been on Pinterest yet, take a visit there and explore what it has to offer. And don’t be surprised if you become addicted.

Dr. Benabio is physician director at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc, and on Facebook (DermDoc).

If you’ve ever heard someone say, "I’ve been pinning for an hour. I’m addicted!" and had no idea what this person was talking about, I have one word for you: Pinterest.

Pinterest is a fabulously popular social media site that allows users to find, share, and organize images called "pins" that are displayed or "pinned" on electronic "boards." A "board" is like a digital folder that helps you organize your pins. For example, you might have boards for Healthy Recipes, Exercise, and Places I’ve Traveled. Images are uploaded from the web or from your own computer or smartphone. Since it’s social, users can "like" other people’s pins, comment on them, and "repin" or share them. They can also add friends and become part of a "pin group board," where you and selected others upload pins to the shared boards.

Why is this important for you and your medical practice? Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing social media sites in history. It launched in March 2010, and by October 2012 it had reached more than 25,000,000 active monthly users and debuted on the list of top 50 most-visited web sites in the United States.

According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of adults who are online are searching for health, and Pinterest is another social media channel you can use to reach them. If you’re thinking, "But I already do Twitter and Facebook," consider this: Approximately 80% of Pinterest users are female and, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, women make 80% of health care decisions for their families. See the connection? It’s not farfetched to posit that Pinterest may turn out to be one of the most effective social media sites for the health care industry.

Because many people are visual learners, Pinterest can be an effective tool for patient education. Several renowned institutions, including St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, use Pinterest effectively to educate the public, share patient stories, and discuss newsworthy topics.

As physicians, you can use Pinterest similarly to build your brand and help market your practice more creatively.

You’ll find that Pinterest is very easy to learn and use. And because it’s a visual site with little to no text, it requires minimal effort on your part, or your staff’s part. A few minutes per day or every few days are sufficient to establish a presence and make connections.

There are many ways you can use Pinterest to build brand awareness and reach patients. Here are a few:

• Explain how medical or cosmetic procedures work, such as fillers and sclerotherapy.

• Explain how medical devices work, such as lasers and dermatoscopes.

• Generate awareness of medical conditions, such as psoriasis, eczema, and skin cancers. Infographics are especially effective.

• Provide inspiration. Many skin conditions are psychologically challenging. Pinning inspirational images can give patients hope.

• Share your product recommendations.

• Share uplifting patient stories and testimonials.

• Introduce and update the public to you, your staff, your office, and your services.

As for creating pin boards, the categories are endless, but here are some ideas to get you started: Patient Stories, Healthy Skin Habits, Sun Safety, Before and After, Acne Tips, Cosmetic Services, Parenting Tips, Words of Inspiration, and Meet Our Staff.

If you haven’t been on Pinterest yet, take a visit there and explore what it has to offer. And don’t be surprised if you become addicted.

Dr. Benabio is physician director at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc, and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Doctor ratings websites can be biased, clinically insignificant, and statistically unreliable. They’re also growing rapidly. In 2011, Inc. Magazine listed vitals.com, a popular doctor rating site, as No. 47 out of the top 100 fasting growing private companies; it grew an impressive 4,637% between 2008 and 2011.

Similarly, a study by Guodong Gordon Gao and colleagues, published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research in February 2012, found a 100-fold increase in the number of ratings on ratemds.com over the last 5 years (J. Med. Internet Res. 2012;14:e38 [doi:10.2196/jmir.2003]). Healthgrades.com, another well known doctor rating site, has 15 million visitors every month, and continues to grow.

As physicians, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about such rating sites and to use them to our advantage. Start by thinking of them more as directories than rating sites and using them to promote you and your practice.

Most physicians, policy leaders, and consumers believe that transparency will ultimately improve the quality of health care. However, in their current state, doctor rating sites suffer from significant drawbacks, including a limited number of reviews, which skews results either positive or negative, a dearth of reviews about physician quality, and inaccurate information about physicians and practices.

According to a May 2011 report by the Pew Research Center (pewinternet.org) only 4% of Internet users have posted a review online of a doctor. In fact, many physicians have only one patient review.

New York Times columnist Ron Leiber wrote in a March 2012 article that there is a supply and demand problem with doctor rating sites: Most consumers want the information and would trust sites that had more reviews, yet the vast majority of patients are not posting them.

Many physicians lament that online doctor reviews skew heavily toward nonclinical issues, such as office decor, rather than the quality of care delivered. This is not likely to change anytime soon. That’s because patients equate service with quality. This isn’t their fault. As humans, we all make this mistake. When asked a difficult question, rather than do the work required to answer it, we tend to substitute an easier question and answer that instead.

To answer the difficult question, Is he or she a high quality physician? a patient would have to research your training and experience and be able to critique your diagnostic skills and treatment outcomes. Of course, they don’t do this.

Instead, they ask the question, Did I like him or her? and base their answer on the service they received, something they can easily access and understand. Hence, the overwhelming number of doctor reviews that mention wait times, office tidiness, support staff interactions, and bedside manner.

Physicians can still learn a lot from such feedback, so don’t dismiss it. We all spend tremendous time and effort on continuing education to ensure that we deliver high quality health care. We need to be sure we spend adequate time and effort on service delivery as well. Otherwise, much of that value will be lost on our patients.

Whether you like them or not, doctor rating sites are here to stay. You won’t knock them completely off the front page of a Google search on you or your practice, and a vaccine against them has not yet been developed.

But realize this: Several studies show that the average rating for doctors is quite good. For example, a study led by Bassam Kadry and colleagues, published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research in November 2011, found that, depending on the scale, the average doctor rating was 77 out of 100, 3.84 out of 5, and 3.1 out of 4 (J. Med. Internet Res. 2011;13:e95 [doi:10.2196/jmir.1960]).

So, here’s my advice to you: Visit the most used doctor rating sites such as healthgrades.com, ratemds.com, vitals.com, and zocdoc.com as well as angieslist.com and yelp.com, and make your profile as patient friendly as possible. Upload a good picture of yourself or consider doing a short video bio. Provide an accurate professional bio as well as personal information, such as your favorite sports teams, pets, hobbies, or anything else that makes you unique and approachable. Include all medical degrees, academic affiliations, and clinical interests, as well as current office information and links to practice websites, blogs, and social networks you frequent such as Twitter. Check in every month or so to provide updates and read user comments.

In the meantime, keep being the caring, qualified doctor you are. That’s the best defense against worrying about doctor rating sites.

This column, Digital Dermatology, appears in Dermatology News. Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter@Dermdoc, and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Doctor ratings websites can be biased, clinically insignificant, and statistically unreliable. They’re also growing rapidly. In 2011, Inc. Magazine listed vitals.com, a popular doctor rating site, as No. 47 out of the top 100 fasting growing private companies; it grew an impressive 4,637% between 2008 and 2011.

Similarly, a study by Guodong Gordon Gao and colleagues, published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research in February 2012, found a 100-fold increase in the number of ratings on ratemds.com over the last 5 years (J. Med. Internet Res. 2012;14:e38 [doi:10.2196/jmir.2003]). Healthgrades.com, another well known doctor rating site, has 15 million visitors every month, and continues to grow.

As physicians, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about such rating sites and to use them to our advantage. Start by thinking of them more as directories than rating sites and using them to promote you and your practice.

Most physicians, policy leaders, and consumers believe that transparency will ultimately improve the quality of health care. However, in their current state, doctor rating sites suffer from significant drawbacks, including a limited number of reviews, which skews results either positive or negative, a dearth of reviews about physician quality, and inaccurate information about physicians and practices.

According to a May 2011 report by the Pew Research Center (pewinternet.org) only 4% of Internet users have posted a review online of a doctor. In fact, many physicians have only one patient review.

New York Times columnist Ron Leiber wrote in a March 2012 article that there is a supply and demand problem with doctor rating sites: Most consumers want the information and would trust sites that had more reviews, yet the vast majority of patients are not posting them.

Many physicians lament that online doctor reviews skew heavily toward nonclinical issues, such as office decor, rather than the quality of care delivered. This is not likely to change anytime soon. That’s because patients equate service with quality. This isn’t their fault. As humans, we all make this mistake. When asked a difficult question, rather than do the work required to answer it, we tend to substitute an easier question and answer that instead.

To answer the difficult question, Is he or she a high quality physician? a patient would have to research your training and experience and be able to critique your diagnostic skills and treatment outcomes. Of course, they don’t do this.

Instead, they ask the question, Did I like him or her? and base their answer on the service they received, something they can easily access and understand. Hence, the overwhelming number of doctor reviews that mention wait times, office tidiness, support staff interactions, and bedside manner.

Physicians can still learn a lot from such feedback, so don’t dismiss it. We all spend tremendous time and effort on continuing education to ensure that we deliver high quality health care. We need to be sure we spend adequate time and effort on service delivery as well. Otherwise, much of that value will be lost on our patients.

Whether you like them or not, doctor rating sites are here to stay. You won’t knock them completely off the front page of a Google search on you or your practice, and a vaccine against them has not yet been developed.

But realize this: Several studies show that the average rating for doctors is quite good. For example, a study led by Bassam Kadry and colleagues, published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research in November 2011, found that, depending on the scale, the average doctor rating was 77 out of 100, 3.84 out of 5, and 3.1 out of 4 (J. Med. Internet Res. 2011;13:e95 [doi:10.2196/jmir.1960]).

So, here’s my advice to you: Visit the most used doctor rating sites such as healthgrades.com, ratemds.com, vitals.com, and zocdoc.com as well as angieslist.com and yelp.com, and make your profile as patient friendly as possible. Upload a good picture of yourself or consider doing a short video bio. Provide an accurate professional bio as well as personal information, such as your favorite sports teams, pets, hobbies, or anything else that makes you unique and approachable. Include all medical degrees, academic affiliations, and clinical interests, as well as current office information and links to practice websites, blogs, and social networks you frequent such as Twitter. Check in every month or so to provide updates and read user comments.

In the meantime, keep being the caring, qualified doctor you are. That’s the best defense against worrying about doctor rating sites.

This column, Digital Dermatology, appears in Dermatology News. Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter@Dermdoc, and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Doctor ratings websites can be biased, clinically insignificant, and statistically unreliable. They’re also growing rapidly. In 2011, Inc. Magazine listed vitals.com, a popular doctor rating site, as No. 47 out of the top 100 fasting growing private companies; it grew an impressive 4,637% between 2008 and 2011.

Similarly, a study by Guodong Gordon Gao and colleagues, published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research in February 2012, found a 100-fold increase in the number of ratings on ratemds.com over the last 5 years (J. Med. Internet Res. 2012;14:e38 [doi:10.2196/jmir.2003]). Healthgrades.com, another well known doctor rating site, has 15 million visitors every month, and continues to grow.

As physicians, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about such rating sites and to use them to our advantage. Start by thinking of them more as directories than rating sites and using them to promote you and your practice.

Most physicians, policy leaders, and consumers believe that transparency will ultimately improve the quality of health care. However, in their current state, doctor rating sites suffer from significant drawbacks, including a limited number of reviews, which skews results either positive or negative, a dearth of reviews about physician quality, and inaccurate information about physicians and practices.

According to a May 2011 report by the Pew Research Center (pewinternet.org) only 4% of Internet users have posted a review online of a doctor. In fact, many physicians have only one patient review.

New York Times columnist Ron Leiber wrote in a March 2012 article that there is a supply and demand problem with doctor rating sites: Most consumers want the information and would trust sites that had more reviews, yet the vast majority of patients are not posting them.

Many physicians lament that online doctor reviews skew heavily toward nonclinical issues, such as office decor, rather than the quality of care delivered. This is not likely to change anytime soon. That’s because patients equate service with quality. This isn’t their fault. As humans, we all make this mistake. When asked a difficult question, rather than do the work required to answer it, we tend to substitute an easier question and answer that instead.

To answer the difficult question, Is he or she a high quality physician? a patient would have to research your training and experience and be able to critique your diagnostic skills and treatment outcomes. Of course, they don’t do this.

Instead, they ask the question, Did I like him or her? and base their answer on the service they received, something they can easily access and understand. Hence, the overwhelming number of doctor reviews that mention wait times, office tidiness, support staff interactions, and bedside manner.

Physicians can still learn a lot from such feedback, so don’t dismiss it. We all spend tremendous time and effort on continuing education to ensure that we deliver high quality health care. We need to be sure we spend adequate time and effort on service delivery as well. Otherwise, much of that value will be lost on our patients.

Whether you like them or not, doctor rating sites are here to stay. You won’t knock them completely off the front page of a Google search on you or your practice, and a vaccine against them has not yet been developed.

But realize this: Several studies show that the average rating for doctors is quite good. For example, a study led by Bassam Kadry and colleagues, published in The Journal of Medical Internet Research in November 2011, found that, depending on the scale, the average doctor rating was 77 out of 100, 3.84 out of 5, and 3.1 out of 4 (J. Med. Internet Res. 2011;13:e95 [doi:10.2196/jmir.1960]).

So, here’s my advice to you: Visit the most used doctor rating sites such as healthgrades.com, ratemds.com, vitals.com, and zocdoc.com as well as angieslist.com and yelp.com, and make your profile as patient friendly as possible. Upload a good picture of yourself or consider doing a short video bio. Provide an accurate professional bio as well as personal information, such as your favorite sports teams, pets, hobbies, or anything else that makes you unique and approachable. Include all medical degrees, academic affiliations, and clinical interests, as well as current office information and links to practice websites, blogs, and social networks you frequent such as Twitter. Check in every month or so to provide updates and read user comments.

In the meantime, keep being the caring, qualified doctor you are. That’s the best defense against worrying about doctor rating sites.

This column, Digital Dermatology, appears in Dermatology News. Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter@Dermdoc, and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Most physicians have a practice website, a static "digital storefront" that provides patients with basic information such as location, hours, and staff bios. That was sufficient once; it’s not any longer.

A blog, short for web-log, gives you the opportunity to create a dynamic site, with fresh, accurate, current information. If you’re on Twitter and Facebook, you might think a blog is unnecessary. You’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the ideal source for material to share on social sites like Facebook.

Starting a blog is easy and inexpensive. It can even be free with sites like WordPress or Tumblr (both of which I use). I’m unable to go into details here, but tutorials can easily be found online. Blogging sites worth reading include Copyblogger, The Minimalists, and Chris Brogan.

So why should you blog? The top reasons include:

• Patient education. Eighty percent of people who are online have searched for health information. I’m sure you have had patients share erroneous medical information with you that they’ve found online. Instead of just complaining about it, we can do something to change it: Create and share good content for both your current and prospective patients.

• Become a trusted spokesperson or expert. Blogging regularly and sharing content on social sites like Twitter and Facebook, provides writers, editors, and producers the opportunity to contact you. Being quoted in a national magazine or appearing on a local television show is also a great way to reach new patients. Remember, too, that regularly updated blogs are frequently crawled by search engines, which means over time, more traffic will come to your blog.

• Become a valued member of the community. Whether it’s to help promote a local race for psoriasis or to educate the community about a measles outbreak, you can use your blog to reach out in a positive way. This is also a great way for doctors new to a neighborhood to find patients.

• Show your personable side. More than ever before, patients are searching online to find the right physician. When patients read your blog and watch you in a video, they begin to establish trust.

• Reduce workload. No, I’m not being sarcastic. We all have instructions and advice that we repeat verbatim to our patients over and over. Instead of having to do this all the time, write a blog post or do a short video that will live forever. This is especially important for postoperative instructions that patients may like to watch at home. It’s also helpful for caregivers who weren’t at the visit.

As for blogging best practices, if you can’t do it alone (and most of us can’t because of time constraints), enlist the help of trusted office staff. Assign a blog manager who is responsible for an editorial calendar, updates, and responding to comments in a timely manner.

Use your blog for patient education and outreach, not marketing. Readers want value. Bombard them with product and procedure pushing, and they’ll run away.

Be authentic, honest, and transparent.

Be conversational and engaging. Patients don’t want to read doctor speak. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include studies, statistics, and the like.

Never write about a specific patient by name or in a way that he or she could be re-identified or that violates HIPAA.

Tell stories. Readers remember them.

Write clearly and concisely, keeping blog posts under 400 words.

Post a minimum of once a week; however, two to three times a week is best for search engines.

Respond to both positive and negative comments in a professional, nonconfrontational manner.

Offer an RSS feed so people can easily follow along.

Be patient. It may take time for people to find your blog, but once they do, you’ll feel both personally and professionally rewarded.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Most physicians have a practice website, a static "digital storefront" that provides patients with basic information such as location, hours, and staff bios. That was sufficient once; it’s not any longer.

A blog, short for web-log, gives you the opportunity to create a dynamic site, with fresh, accurate, current information. If you’re on Twitter and Facebook, you might think a blog is unnecessary. You’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the ideal source for material to share on social sites like Facebook.

Starting a blog is easy and inexpensive. It can even be free with sites like WordPress or Tumblr (both of which I use). I’m unable to go into details here, but tutorials can easily be found online. Blogging sites worth reading include Copyblogger, The Minimalists, and Chris Brogan.

So why should you blog? The top reasons include:

• Patient education. Eighty percent of people who are online have searched for health information. I’m sure you have had patients share erroneous medical information with you that they’ve found online. Instead of just complaining about it, we can do something to change it: Create and share good content for both your current and prospective patients.

• Become a trusted spokesperson or expert. Blogging regularly and sharing content on social sites like Twitter and Facebook, provides writers, editors, and producers the opportunity to contact you. Being quoted in a national magazine or appearing on a local television show is also a great way to reach new patients. Remember, too, that regularly updated blogs are frequently crawled by search engines, which means over time, more traffic will come to your blog.

• Become a valued member of the community. Whether it’s to help promote a local race for psoriasis or to educate the community about a measles outbreak, you can use your blog to reach out in a positive way. This is also a great way for doctors new to a neighborhood to find patients.

• Show your personable side. More than ever before, patients are searching online to find the right physician. When patients read your blog and watch you in a video, they begin to establish trust.

• Reduce workload. No, I’m not being sarcastic. We all have instructions and advice that we repeat verbatim to our patients over and over. Instead of having to do this all the time, write a blog post or do a short video that will live forever. This is especially important for postoperative instructions that patients may like to watch at home. It’s also helpful for caregivers who weren’t at the visit.

As for blogging best practices, if you can’t do it alone (and most of us can’t because of time constraints), enlist the help of trusted office staff. Assign a blog manager who is responsible for an editorial calendar, updates, and responding to comments in a timely manner.

Use your blog for patient education and outreach, not marketing. Readers want value. Bombard them with product and procedure pushing, and they’ll run away.

Be authentic, honest, and transparent.

Be conversational and engaging. Patients don’t want to read doctor speak. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include studies, statistics, and the like.

Never write about a specific patient by name or in a way that he or she could be re-identified or that violates HIPAA.

Tell stories. Readers remember them.

Write clearly and concisely, keeping blog posts under 400 words.

Post a minimum of once a week; however, two to three times a week is best for search engines.

Respond to both positive and negative comments in a professional, nonconfrontational manner.

Offer an RSS feed so people can easily follow along.

Be patient. It may take time for people to find your blog, but once they do, you’ll feel both personally and professionally rewarded.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Most physicians have a practice website, a static "digital storefront" that provides patients with basic information such as location, hours, and staff bios. That was sufficient once; it’s not any longer.

A blog, short for web-log, gives you the opportunity to create a dynamic site, with fresh, accurate, current information. If you’re on Twitter and Facebook, you might think a blog is unnecessary. You’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the ideal source for material to share on social sites like Facebook.

Starting a blog is easy and inexpensive. It can even be free with sites like WordPress or Tumblr (both of which I use). I’m unable to go into details here, but tutorials can easily be found online. Blogging sites worth reading include Copyblogger, The Minimalists, and Chris Brogan.

So why should you blog? The top reasons include:

• Patient education. Eighty percent of people who are online have searched for health information. I’m sure you have had patients share erroneous medical information with you that they’ve found online. Instead of just complaining about it, we can do something to change it: Create and share good content for both your current and prospective patients.

• Become a trusted spokesperson or expert. Blogging regularly and sharing content on social sites like Twitter and Facebook, provides writers, editors, and producers the opportunity to contact you. Being quoted in a national magazine or appearing on a local television show is also a great way to reach new patients. Remember, too, that regularly updated blogs are frequently crawled by search engines, which means over time, more traffic will come to your blog.

• Become a valued member of the community. Whether it’s to help promote a local race for psoriasis or to educate the community about a measles outbreak, you can use your blog to reach out in a positive way. This is also a great way for doctors new to a neighborhood to find patients.

• Show your personable side. More than ever before, patients are searching online to find the right physician. When patients read your blog and watch you in a video, they begin to establish trust.

• Reduce workload. No, I’m not being sarcastic. We all have instructions and advice that we repeat verbatim to our patients over and over. Instead of having to do this all the time, write a blog post or do a short video that will live forever. This is especially important for postoperative instructions that patients may like to watch at home. It’s also helpful for caregivers who weren’t at the visit.

As for blogging best practices, if you can’t do it alone (and most of us can’t because of time constraints), enlist the help of trusted office staff. Assign a blog manager who is responsible for an editorial calendar, updates, and responding to comments in a timely manner.

Use your blog for patient education and outreach, not marketing. Readers want value. Bombard them with product and procedure pushing, and they’ll run away.

Be authentic, honest, and transparent.

Be conversational and engaging. Patients don’t want to read doctor speak. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include studies, statistics, and the like.

Never write about a specific patient by name or in a way that he or she could be re-identified or that violates HIPAA.

Tell stories. Readers remember them.

Write clearly and concisely, keeping blog posts under 400 words.

Post a minimum of once a week; however, two to three times a week is best for search engines.

Respond to both positive and negative comments in a professional, nonconfrontational manner.

Offer an RSS feed so people can easily follow along.

Be patient. It may take time for people to find your blog, but once they do, you’ll feel both personally and professionally rewarded.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

There have been four revolutions that have fundamentally changed the way we communicate, according to Clay Shirky, a New York University professor and social media theorist: the printing press, the telephone and telegraph, television and radio, and social media.

On rating sites, such as Yelp and DrScore, and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, patients are connecting and sharing information about their health and about you. You have a choice: You can participate in that conversation, or you can let it happen without you.

In a survey of 4,000 physicians, QuantiaMD found that nearly 90% of physicians reported using Facebook for personal use and 67% used it professionally. So what about the other 33%?

Physicians cite many barriers to using social media. The most common include lack of time, failure to see return on investment, concerns about patient safety, and not knowing where to begin.

While there are scores of social media options available to physicians, I recommend starting with the following: having a website or blog and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube or Vimeo. These sites will help you to engage with and educate your patients and prospective patients, market and build your practice, gain professional clout, and protect your online reputation.

• Website/Blog. Having a static practice website that is never updated is passé. Sure, your website should include information about scheduling, hours, and products, but it should also be regularly updated with new information. In this way, your website can also serve as your blog, a place where you can post articles on topics of interest to your current and prospective patients. It’s best to start with a website/blog so you can create relevant content to share on social media sites.

• Facebook. The rock star of social networking sites was launched in 2004 and recently reached over 1 billion active users. Your patients, current and prospective, as well as your competition, are on Facebook. And you should be, too. Facebook allows for you to have both personal and professional pages, to add friends, to categorize friends, and to even "unfriend" friends. You can exchange both public and private messages, and unlike Twitter, you have the ability to monitor what others post on your page; and you can delete inappropriate material when necessary.

• Twitter. This online social networking site allows users to create messages that are up to 140 characters, known as "tweets." As such, it can be challenging for a newbie to know what to say, how to say it cleverly enough to get "retweeted" or shared, and how to get people engaged long-term. Benefits for physicians, however, include engaging in real-time conversation, sharing breaking news, and discovering hot topics.

• LinkedIn. This social networking site is used primarily by professionals and is effective for making business contacts, hiring, and networking.

• Video. You should consider having a YouTube or Vimeo account because a video post is 50 times more likely to get picked up in a Google search than is a written post, and because 3 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. Video also allows prospective patients to get to know you and increases your visibility as an educator and expert in the field.

You can ignore all of this and hope it goes away, but the younger generation of physicians entering the field today isn’t. Or you could contract out your social media work to a professional company. Or you and your staff could do it. I’ll speak about these options in future columns.

DR. BENABIO is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog or connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

There have been four revolutions that have fundamentally changed the way we communicate, according to Clay Shirky, a New York University professor and social media theorist: the printing press, the telephone and telegraph, television and radio, and social media.

On rating sites, such as Yelp and DrScore, and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, patients are connecting and sharing information about their health and about you. You have a choice: You can participate in that conversation, or you can let it happen without you.

In a survey of 4,000 physicians, QuantiaMD found that nearly 90% of physicians reported using Facebook for personal use and 67% used it professionally. So what about the other 33%?

Physicians cite many barriers to using social media. The most common include lack of time, failure to see return on investment, concerns about patient safety, and not knowing where to begin.

While there are scores of social media options available to physicians, I recommend starting with the following: having a website or blog and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube or Vimeo. These sites will help you to engage with and educate your patients and prospective patients, market and build your practice, gain professional clout, and protect your online reputation.

• Website/Blog. Having a static practice website that is never updated is passé. Sure, your website should include information about scheduling, hours, and products, but it should also be regularly updated with new information. In this way, your website can also serve as your blog, a place where you can post articles on topics of interest to your current and prospective patients. It’s best to start with a website/blog so you can create relevant content to share on social media sites.

• Facebook. The rock star of social networking sites was launched in 2004 and recently reached over 1 billion active users. Your patients, current and prospective, as well as your competition, are on Facebook. And you should be, too. Facebook allows for you to have both personal and professional pages, to add friends, to categorize friends, and to even "unfriend" friends. You can exchange both public and private messages, and unlike Twitter, you have the ability to monitor what others post on your page; and you can delete inappropriate material when necessary.

• Twitter. This online social networking site allows users to create messages that are up to 140 characters, known as "tweets." As such, it can be challenging for a newbie to know what to say, how to say it cleverly enough to get "retweeted" or shared, and how to get people engaged long-term. Benefits for physicians, however, include engaging in real-time conversation, sharing breaking news, and discovering hot topics.

• LinkedIn. This social networking site is used primarily by professionals and is effective for making business contacts, hiring, and networking.

• Video. You should consider having a YouTube or Vimeo account because a video post is 50 times more likely to get picked up in a Google search than is a written post, and because 3 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. Video also allows prospective patients to get to know you and increases your visibility as an educator and expert in the field.

You can ignore all of this and hope it goes away, but the younger generation of physicians entering the field today isn’t. Or you could contract out your social media work to a professional company. Or you and your staff could do it. I’ll speak about these options in future columns.

DR. BENABIO is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog or connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

There have been four revolutions that have fundamentally changed the way we communicate, according to Clay Shirky, a New York University professor and social media theorist: the printing press, the telephone and telegraph, television and radio, and social media.

On rating sites, such as Yelp and DrScore, and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, patients are connecting and sharing information about their health and about you. You have a choice: You can participate in that conversation, or you can let it happen without you.

In a survey of 4,000 physicians, QuantiaMD found that nearly 90% of physicians reported using Facebook for personal use and 67% used it professionally. So what about the other 33%?

Physicians cite many barriers to using social media. The most common include lack of time, failure to see return on investment, concerns about patient safety, and not knowing where to begin.

While there are scores of social media options available to physicians, I recommend starting with the following: having a website or blog and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube or Vimeo. These sites will help you to engage with and educate your patients and prospective patients, market and build your practice, gain professional clout, and protect your online reputation.

• Website/Blog. Having a static practice website that is never updated is passé. Sure, your website should include information about scheduling, hours, and products, but it should also be regularly updated with new information. In this way, your website can also serve as your blog, a place where you can post articles on topics of interest to your current and prospective patients. It’s best to start with a website/blog so you can create relevant content to share on social media sites.

• Facebook. The rock star of social networking sites was launched in 2004 and recently reached over 1 billion active users. Your patients, current and prospective, as well as your competition, are on Facebook. And you should be, too. Facebook allows for you to have both personal and professional pages, to add friends, to categorize friends, and to even "unfriend" friends. You can exchange both public and private messages, and unlike Twitter, you have the ability to monitor what others post on your page; and you can delete inappropriate material when necessary.

• Twitter. This online social networking site allows users to create messages that are up to 140 characters, known as "tweets." As such, it can be challenging for a newbie to know what to say, how to say it cleverly enough to get "retweeted" or shared, and how to get people engaged long-term. Benefits for physicians, however, include engaging in real-time conversation, sharing breaking news, and discovering hot topics.

• LinkedIn. This social networking site is used primarily by professionals and is effective for making business contacts, hiring, and networking.

• Video. You should consider having a YouTube or Vimeo account because a video post is 50 times more likely to get picked up in a Google search than is a written post, and because 3 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. Video also allows prospective patients to get to know you and increases your visibility as an educator and expert in the field.

You can ignore all of this and hope it goes away, but the younger generation of physicians entering the field today isn’t. Or you could contract out your social media work to a professional company. Or you and your staff could do it. I’ll speak about these options in future columns.

DR. BENABIO is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog or connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Yesterday, 526 million people went on Facebook. Why? What happened yesterday? Nothing happened. A half-billion people visit Facebook every day.

In fact, when this article went to print, Facebook was on the cusp of reaching more than 1 billion users. Chances are you’re one of them. But are you using Facebook to help build your practice? If you’re like many of our colleagues, you know you need to be using social media, but you may find it to be overwhelming, and you don’t know where to begin. I’m here to help.

I’ve been writing about, speaking about, and participating in social media for the last 5 years. I have had over 4 million visits to my blog; I have over 15,000 followers on Twitter; and my videos on YouTube have been viewed almost 100,000 times. I don’t do all of this to build my practice (I work at an HMO), or to make more money (I’m paid a set salary regardless of the number of patients I see); rather, I do it because it is becoming an integral part of practicing medicine and will be a requisite skill for successful dermatologists.

I’m on social media daily, where I listen, respond, engage, and teach, because that’s where our patients are: Three-quarters of all Internet searches are health related, and one in five people on Facebook is looking for health care information. And it’s my hope to inspire and support you in doing the same, and to help you pursue your own social media goals.

So for this inaugural column, let’s start with the basics: What are social media, and why do you need to use them?

Social media refer to web-based and mobile technologies that allow people to connect and share information with one another. Think of them as ways to have digital conversations. People flock to Facebook because sociability is a core human characteristic. Humans are compelled to interact with others.

Connecting with people at meetings, parties, and meals is what we’ve always done. Now, powerful technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, make that connection easier than ever. Instead of sharing stories with your family on special occasions, you can share stories and photos with them anytime, anywhere, instantaneously. That’s why Facebook will soon have more than 1 billion subscribers.

Why is this important for your dermatology practice? Word of mouth has always been the most valuable way dermatologists have built their practices. But now, technologies such as Yelp and DrScore enable patients to spread word of mouth far beyond what was previously possible. Rating sites like these are fundamentally social media sites – places where patients connect and share information (in this case, information about you).

Every physician has a social media presence. Don’t believe me? Google yourself. Many of the links that are on your first page will lead to some type of social media site. You can choose to remain an object of other people’s conversations, or you can become an active participant in them instead.

Engaging in social media can mean having a practice Facebook page, a video channel, and perhaps even a blog or Twitter account. These tools will help you to engage and educate patients and prospective patients about yourself, to market and build your practice, and to protect your online reputation. Social media sites can also help you to build and maintain relationships with other physicians, learn from colleagues, and engage in continuing medical education.

As with learning a new surgical technique, the beginning is always the hardest part.

In columns to come, I hope to help you understand the fundamentals of web-based technologies, because once you understand the basic concepts, you can choose which media to use based on your needs and the needs of your practice.

Just as you can’t contract out CME, you can’t contract out social media. The tools are just technological enhancements of real person-to-person interactions. Your patients know and like you because they’ve built a relationship with you in your office. Similarly, your online presence will need to be genuine, or people will quickly realize it’s not actually you.

Learning social media isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming. I look forward to your questions, feedback, and discussion as we all boldly go forth into the future of medical practice.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog; connect with him on Twitter (@Dermdoc) and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Yesterday, 526 million people went on Facebook. Why? What happened yesterday? Nothing happened. A half-billion people visit Facebook every day.

In fact, when this article went to print, Facebook was on the cusp of reaching more than 1 billion users. Chances are you’re one of them. But are you using Facebook to help build your practice? If you’re like many of our colleagues, you know you need to be using social media, but you may find it to be overwhelming, and you don’t know where to begin. I’m here to help.

I’ve been writing about, speaking about, and participating in social media for the last 5 years. I have had over 4 million visits to my blog; I have over 15,000 followers on Twitter; and my videos on YouTube have been viewed almost 100,000 times. I don’t do all of this to build my practice (I work at an HMO), or to make more money (I’m paid a set salary regardless of the number of patients I see); rather, I do it because it is becoming an integral part of practicing medicine and will be a requisite skill for successful dermatologists.

I’m on social media daily, where I listen, respond, engage, and teach, because that’s where our patients are: Three-quarters of all Internet searches are health related, and one in five people on Facebook is looking for health care information. And it’s my hope to inspire and support you in doing the same, and to help you pursue your own social media goals.

So for this inaugural column, let’s start with the basics: What are social media, and why do you need to use them?

Social media refer to web-based and mobile technologies that allow people to connect and share information with one another. Think of them as ways to have digital conversations. People flock to Facebook because sociability is a core human characteristic. Humans are compelled to interact with others.

Connecting with people at meetings, parties, and meals is what we’ve always done. Now, powerful technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, make that connection easier than ever. Instead of sharing stories with your family on special occasions, you can share stories and photos with them anytime, anywhere, instantaneously. That’s why Facebook will soon have more than 1 billion subscribers.

Why is this important for your dermatology practice? Word of mouth has always been the most valuable way dermatologists have built their practices. But now, technologies such as Yelp and DrScore enable patients to spread word of mouth far beyond what was previously possible. Rating sites like these are fundamentally social media sites – places where patients connect and share information (in this case, information about you).

Every physician has a social media presence. Don’t believe me? Google yourself. Many of the links that are on your first page will lead to some type of social media site. You can choose to remain an object of other people’s conversations, or you can become an active participant in them instead.

Engaging in social media can mean having a practice Facebook page, a video channel, and perhaps even a blog or Twitter account. These tools will help you to engage and educate patients and prospective patients about yourself, to market and build your practice, and to protect your online reputation. Social media sites can also help you to build and maintain relationships with other physicians, learn from colleagues, and engage in continuing medical education.

As with learning a new surgical technique, the beginning is always the hardest part.

In columns to come, I hope to help you understand the fundamentals of web-based technologies, because once you understand the basic concepts, you can choose which media to use based on your needs and the needs of your practice.

Just as you can’t contract out CME, you can’t contract out social media. The tools are just technological enhancements of real person-to-person interactions. Your patients know and like you because they’ve built a relationship with you in your office. Similarly, your online presence will need to be genuine, or people will quickly realize it’s not actually you.

Learning social media isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming. I look forward to your questions, feedback, and discussion as we all boldly go forth into the future of medical practice.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog; connect with him on Twitter (@Dermdoc) and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Yesterday, 526 million people went on Facebook. Why? What happened yesterday? Nothing happened. A half-billion people visit Facebook every day.

In fact, when this article went to print, Facebook was on the cusp of reaching more than 1 billion users. Chances are you’re one of them. But are you using Facebook to help build your practice? If you’re like many of our colleagues, you know you need to be using social media, but you may find it to be overwhelming, and you don’t know where to begin. I’m here to help.

I’ve been writing about, speaking about, and participating in social media for the last 5 years. I have had over 4 million visits to my blog; I have over 15,000 followers on Twitter; and my videos on YouTube have been viewed almost 100,000 times. I don’t do all of this to build my practice (I work at an HMO), or to make more money (I’m paid a set salary regardless of the number of patients I see); rather, I do it because it is becoming an integral part of practicing medicine and will be a requisite skill for successful dermatologists.

I’m on social media daily, where I listen, respond, engage, and teach, because that’s where our patients are: Three-quarters of all Internet searches are health related, and one in five people on Facebook is looking for health care information. And it’s my hope to inspire and support you in doing the same, and to help you pursue your own social media goals.

So for this inaugural column, let’s start with the basics: What are social media, and why do you need to use them?

Social media refer to web-based and mobile technologies that allow people to connect and share information with one another. Think of them as ways to have digital conversations. People flock to Facebook because sociability is a core human characteristic. Humans are compelled to interact with others.

Connecting with people at meetings, parties, and meals is what we’ve always done. Now, powerful technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, make that connection easier than ever. Instead of sharing stories with your family on special occasions, you can share stories and photos with them anytime, anywhere, instantaneously. That’s why Facebook will soon have more than 1 billion subscribers.

Why is this important for your dermatology practice? Word of mouth has always been the most valuable way dermatologists have built their practices. But now, technologies such as Yelp and DrScore enable patients to spread word of mouth far beyond what was previously possible. Rating sites like these are fundamentally social media sites – places where patients connect and share information (in this case, information about you).

Every physician has a social media presence. Don’t believe me? Google yourself. Many of the links that are on your first page will lead to some type of social media site. You can choose to remain an object of other people’s conversations, or you can become an active participant in them instead.

Engaging in social media can mean having a practice Facebook page, a video channel, and perhaps even a blog or Twitter account. These tools will help you to engage and educate patients and prospective patients about yourself, to market and build your practice, and to protect your online reputation. Social media sites can also help you to build and maintain relationships with other physicians, learn from colleagues, and engage in continuing medical education.

As with learning a new surgical technique, the beginning is always the hardest part.

In columns to come, I hope to help you understand the fundamentals of web-based technologies, because once you understand the basic concepts, you can choose which media to use based on your needs and the needs of your practice.

Just as you can’t contract out CME, you can’t contract out social media. The tools are just technological enhancements of real person-to-person interactions. Your patients know and like you because they’ve built a relationship with you in your office. Similarly, your online presence will need to be genuine, or people will quickly realize it’s not actually you.

Learning social media isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming. I look forward to your questions, feedback, and discussion as we all boldly go forth into the future of medical practice.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog; connect with him on Twitter (@Dermdoc) and on Facebook (DermDoc).