Early last month, I announced that I had launched a new initiative called the Path of the Blue Eye project. It is designed to foster greater collaboration and knowledge sharing among people in the health marketing communications field. It was a risky move, but it appears to be paying off.
We are still in the early days of the project, but I’m very pleased that nearly 200 people from companies and organizations like Johnson & Johnson, AIDS.gov, Novartis, Shire, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, OrganizedWisdom and Digitas have joined the movement via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.
In addition, we launched a blog, titled Walking the Path, and invited people from across the health industry to contribute. Once again, I have been delighted by the response. In addition to myself, five well-regarded experts, including Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, David Harlow and Nedra Kline Weinreich, have agreed to develop content for the Weblog.
What does all of this activity suggest? Well, it means that the Path of the Blue Eye project is getting stronger each day. It’s real, serious and here to stay.
However, as I expected, it is taking a lot of work. In addition to fulfilling my client responsibilities, we are building a collaboration hub and forging partnerships with a range of organizations. Something’s got to give. Today I’m announcing that as of this post I will no longer be writing HealthCareVox.
As you can imagine this was a difficult decision. I started writing this blog in January 2006 when the health blogging world was a lot smaller than it is today. I have been (and remain) hugely appreciative of all those who have diligently read, commented on and shared my content over the years. You all played a big role in helping make HealthCareVox what it is today.
However, even though I am saying goodbye, this is also a hello. Consider this an invitation to follow me over to Walking the Path. Here are some of the reasons I think you will benefit from reading this new Weblog:
• New Perspectives: My co-authors and I will write about health marketing communications and related topics from a variety of perspectives. I will no longer be the lone voice.
• A Similar Focus, But More Diversity: I will continue to write about some of the topics I covered on this blog. In addition, I’m looking forward to having co-authors who will help challenge and broaden my thinking.
• New Voices: When the Path of the Blue Eye collaboration hub launches we will feature active contributors to the community on a regular basis via profiles and guest posts.
• Case Studies: We also plan to regularly feature case studies focusing on health marketing communications campaigns using social technologies and other tools on a regular basis. In fact, you can read some recently published case studies here and here. If you enjoy learning from others, you’ll love Walking the Path.
I hope to see many of you at Walking the Path. And, if this is the end of our journey together, thank you for supporting me and this blog for all of these years.
Following are a few notes about the future administration of this blog.
1. This blog will remain live for the foreseeable future, so you will be able to benefit from the archive.
2. I am deactivating the contact e-mail address for this blog (healthcarevox [at] . . .). If you send e-mails to this address they will bounce.
3. I will not be accepting public relations pitches at Walking the Path. The blog’s editorial calendar is currently full and will get fuller when the collaboration hub launches.
Comment Preview