Saying that hospitals are conservative is an understatement. We don't like to take risks, we don't like to test the waters and we don't like having things out of our control. All good reasons to be wary of social media.
But the fact is, social media is here to stay, and more and more hospitals are recognizing this and dipping their toes into the social waters as another marketing and brand-building tool.
There are now 1,501 hospitals using some combination of social media channels, according to the Health Care Social Media List, managed by the Mayo Clinic's Center for Social Media. (Please note this is the list originally created by Ed Bennett, and we owe him much gratitude for this resource.)
There are about 5,815 hospitals registered in the United States, according to the American Hospital Association, almost 25 percent of the country's hospitals. When I set up our accounts in 2009, we were among the first 5 percent. Clearly more hospitals are recognizing the importance of being part of the conversation! >> Read the full Hospital Impact post