Web 2.0 is definitely here…
…and are you ready for it?
As Kathy said, we are all just getting back to reality from a wonderful time at the 11th Annual Healthcare Internet Conference. This conference is also held in conjunction with the annual Greystone Client Conference. I hope everyone had as marvelous of a time in Las Vegas as I did! It was wonderful to see lots of familiar faces, and to get to know a few new people. I always leave the conference exhausted but energized, with lots of lists of things to do. This year, I especially enjoyed all of the great presentations, both the keynoters and general sessions. It’s always great for me to see what everyone has been up to and how things on hospital Web sites continue to evolve. Like Kathy, I really saw social networking and Web 2.0 as a major theme of the conference this year. Anyone that attended my session at the Greystone client conference on the first day knows that I truly believe this is where the Web is headed, if not already there, whether we like it or not. This is especially scary for marketers who want to control their message and brand. But, there has to be a shift in philosophy to remain competitive. We must embrace the change. Scary, I know. I was especially excited to see some of the other keynoters, especially Rob Curley and Shel Holtz reiterate much of what I presented in the Greystone client conference.
Having a great Web site is just not good enough anymore. In many respects, that’s just expected. If that is the only goal of your organization, than I’m sorry to say it, you’re behind. The first step is finding out what is already out there and being said about your hospital or healthcare system, if you haven’t already. Take some time to investigate and you may be very surprised. More and more we’ll see Web 2.0 as the norm in healthcare Web sites. Finding the return on investment will be the next challenge, but that will come. I have some ideas that I will explore in upcoming posts. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this? Please share.
Quite true, Rachel.
Our future audience(s) are young, but the use the internet differently than we do.
Michael,
They are also “smarter” than we are … in many ways about what can be done on the Web and how to innovate. We need to embrace that diversity and difference rather than run from it or fear it. They will soon be our health system’s consumers, patients, employees …
Well like most I am sure you have seen the latest headline,
“Google Accounts For More Than 65% Of U.S. Searches”
This is quite incredible but not really as interesting as the fact that, “Health and medical had the highest share of traffic from search engines at 44.64%, while business and finance had the least at 17.04%, according to the latest Hitwise survey” (Source: Information Week)
If my math is correct this means the following:
Total Google Searches (Avg 2 Months):
6.5 Billion Searches per month(Source: comScore)
Number of Google Daily Searches:
216 Million per day
Number of Health & Medical Daily Searches:
216 Million x 44%=
95 Million Health and Medical Searches per Day
By the way that is for Google only. Do you need another reason to begin focusing on your web programs? Needless to say we are continuing to see a major shift in how consumers seek out Health and Medical Information.