Earlier this year, my firm Envision Solutions and The Medical Blog Network launched the first global survey of healthcare bloggers. Today, we released the results of this poll, which will be discussed during the Healthcare Blogging Summit this afternoon in Washington DC.
Following are some key results of this survey:
- Many bloggers are writing for altruistic or personal reasons, i.e., to share their experiences or educate others
- A number of bloggers hide their identity to protect themselves, friends, family, patients and careers
- Many respondents view their fellow bloggers’ statements with a critical eye. However, they are confident most bloggers will make it easy for them to access a range of perspectives via their blogs
- About half of those contacted by PR professionals write posts based on information they receive from them
- Respondents are split on whether running advertising compromises the integrity of healthcare bloggers. However, many are willing to invite advertisers to appear to their blogs
Click here to download the full results of this survey.
The speakers at this conference are mainly people trying to cash in on the health care industry. They are posing as "experts" on the actual bloggers. If you are interested in this topic, please try to check out the herculean (and unpaid) efforts of patient advocates and critics of the health care industry. My own blog can be found at http://corphq.livejournal.com
Posted by: gadfly | December 11, 2006 1:56 PM | Permalink to Comment