Social Media News and Research

Latest Social Media News and Research

Internet-savvy consumers are incessant shoppers of health care providers and information

Today's Internet-savvy consumers are incessant shoppers of both health care providers and health care information, typically passing through four phases of online evaluation and connection with physicians, medical practices and other patients, according to Ron Harman King, a veteran digital marketer of specialty practices.

7 Apr 2012

Steps to reduce risk of social media sites among teenagers

While social media has made connecting and communicating with anyone at any time as easy as pie, it also has altered teen's social skills and behaviors. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have proven to be great tools to expedite the development of empathy, encourage task-switching or even bring somewhat shy individuals a little more out of their shells. However, social media sites have also fostered a host of psychological and behavioral problems.

6 Apr 2012

UNICEF launches social media campaign to raise awareness of malnutrition among children in Sahel region

UNICEF on Tuesday launched a social media campaign "to raise awareness about children in the Sahel region in northern Africa who are in urgent need of food aid," CNN reports.

4 Apr 2012

Public service announcement on pediatric pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) sounds like an adult disease, but the life-threatening lung condition strikes children too. Ten-year-old Lucas Van Wormer is one of them.

3 Apr 2012

HHS Secretary announces six winners in HHSinnovates program

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced six winners in the HHSinnovates program today in a ceremony at HHS headquarters, saying all the entries "show a vibrant culture of innovation" within the department.

31 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 30, 2012

Today's health policy headlines include reports that the House yesterday approved the $3.5 trillion budget plan proposed by Paul Ryan -- which includes deep cuts in entitlements and will likely trigger the election-year fiscal debate.

30 Mar 2012

New study shows that Australians still stand by the private health system

New research shows that 70 per cent of Australians believe that Australia’s health care system would not cope without a strong private hospitals sector, but many are unaware of the range of services provided by Australia’s private hospitals.

25 Mar 2012

More supermarkets shun “pink slime”

Supermarket chains Kroger Co. and Stop & Shop announced Thursday that they would no longer sell beef that includes an additive with the unappetizing “pink slime.” Federal regulators say the ammonia-treated filler, known in the industry as “lean, finely textured beef,” meets food safety standards. But critics say the product could be unsafe and is an unappetizing example of industrialized food production.

25 Mar 2012

U.S. to launch graphic anti-smoking warnings

The United States Government is starting a major new effort to cut the country's smoking rate by showing graphic images of people who have sustained life-altering health problems after smoking for years.

18 Mar 2012

DA4S's fifth annual networking conference and EXPO to take place from May 21-23

On May 21-23, 2012, Diversity Alliance for Science, Inc., a non-profit organization created to support, mentor, and develop minority-, woman-, veteran/service-disabled-, HUBZone-, and LGBT-owned, life sciences businesses, will host its fifth annual networking conference and EXPO event.

17 Mar 2012

Heborium first quarter sales increase 23%

Herborium Group, Inc., is pleased to announce today that the Company' Internet sales for first quarter of 2012 grew 23% in comparison to the same quarter of 2011.

8 Mar 2012

State news: Several Mass. hospitals tie part of doctor pay to size of practice; Mass. officials push to alleviate crowds at ERs

Getting in to see a primary-care doctor at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals has for years been notoriously hard, with many popular practices closed to new patients. But now, reflecting dramatic shifts in health care, the prestigious hospitals are paying doctors more if they agree to accept new patients. The Harvard-affiliated hospitals are tying about 10 percent of doctors' salaries this year to the size of their practice and the complexity of their patients' illnesses.

6 Mar 2012

Safe sex apps anyone?

As part of National Condom Week (Feb. 14 - Feb. 21), Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest distributed 55,000 condoms throughout western Washington. The condom packaging contained QR codes, barcodes that can be scanned by smart phones which direct users to a mobile website. The website is www.WhereDidYouWearIt.com, a geo-location service website that allows users to “check-in” their safe sex activity. The site is intended to promote healthy sexuality and encourage social media users, to “be proud to wear protection,” Planned Parenthood said in a written statement. “Wheredidyouwearit.com is like Foursquare for people who don’t want a sexually transmitted infection,” PPGNW said on its website.

2 Mar 2012

AJPM&R releases new iPad app for physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists

Ninety years after its first issue, American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation has announced the latest step in its evolution with the release of the new AJPM&R for the iPad app.

2 Mar 2012

Perception of epilepsy is not faring well in social media

A revealing study published in Epilepsy & Behavior provides evidence that the perception of epilepsy is not faring well in social media. Kate McNeil and colleagues from Dalhousie University in Canada analyzed data collected from Twitter to provide a snapshot of how epilepsy is portrayed within the twitter community.

1 Mar 2012

INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & Operations Research to take place in April

Analytics, the increasingly important specialty that has been cited by Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Gartner, and Accenture for aiding better decisions at organizations, will be the focus of a conference hosted by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS-), the premier organization for advanced analytics professionals.

23 Feb 2012

Real beauty and self-esteem begins from within, not from makeup

The Renfrew Center Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to advancing the education, prevention, research and treatment of eating disorders, today announced survey results which revealed that nearly half of all women have negative feelings about their image when not wearing makeup and associate a "bare face" with feeling unattractive and insecure.

23 Feb 2012

Helping cancer patients tackle geographic challenges to access clinical trials

As oncologists already know and newly diagnosed lung cancer patients learn, the kind of treatment given to patients is increasingly becoming dependent on the specific gene mutation present in the cancer.

16 Feb 2012

Bishops plan united front campaign against contraception rule

While most of the public favors the Obama administration's contraception compromise, the Catholic bishops will launch TV and radio ads against the mandate.

16 Feb 2012

Plastic surgery on the rise among Americans

13.8 million plastic surgery procedures were performed in 2011, a 5% increase on the year before. The authors added that by the end of 2011, the number of total plastic surgeries had grown for 24 consecutive months. These figures include both minimally-invasive and surgical procedures. The ASPS informs that 5.5 additional reconstructive procedures were carried out in 2011, also a 5% increase on the previous year.

13 Feb 2012