Hospitals Increasingly Using Social Media Although the Benefits and Best Strategies are Still Unclear

With a following of over 2,200, the OSU Medical Center (@osumc) comes in as the 16th most popular hospital on Twitter.  The list was published by Ed Bennett, hospital Web manager with the University of Maryland Medical System.  Topping the list of hospitals on Twitter is the Mayo Clinic (@mayoclinic) with 6,626 fans.   Cleveland Clinic (@cleveclinic_cme) comes in at #14 with 2,440 followers. 

Bennett further reports that the number of hospitals with an online presence through a Web site or other channel is 351.  There are 174 hospitals with YouTube channels, 174 with Facebook pages, 253 Twitter accounts and 31 blogs. 

Although more and more hospitals are attempting to harness social media as part of an overall Internet strategy, it’s still unclear as to how health systems can best use these channels.  A story in MedCity News suggests there may be a number of reasons for the lack of traction.  The first is content.  Hospitals don’t quite yet know what to post on Twitter.  The second is they can’t quite figure out yet what the payoff is for using Twitter.  Thirdly and possibly most significantly is that Twitter is a personal medium versus something best suited to an institution.  The story suggests hospitals might be best served by setting up accounts for their high profile doctors and researchers and helping manage those accounts as opposed to trying to gain followers for an institution.

So are you curious as to what the OSU Medical Center tweets about?  Check out their posts and become a follower. 

To read the full story in MedCity News. 

See Ed Bennett’s blog on Web usage and social media in hospitals.