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</script>"May you live in interesting times" is as much a Chinese curse as it
is a blessing and in so many ways it can be applied to the recent
happenings with the
FDA hearings
on social media in Washington late last week. The FDA invited more
than 60 speakers to present their perspective on social media as it
related to direct to consumer (DTC) advertising, media, reporting and
essentially accountability driven by social media. Now that the
floodgates are open in this remarkable event, there is now a
requirement to react and to develop best practice guidelines and
regulations around transparancy. One could argue that what is
happening in pharma is just the tip of the iceberg of whats to come for
business and organizations worldwide.
A good blog post by Econsultancy summarizes the thrust of the FDA hearings focus as being centered on answering the following questions:
- For what online communications are manufacturers, packers or distributors accountable?
- How can manufacturers, packers or distributors fulfill regulatory
requirements in their Internet and social media promotion, particularly
when using tools that are associated with space limitations and tools
that allow for real-time communications?
- What parameters should apply to the posting of corrective information on Web sites controlled by third parties?
- When is the use of links appropriate?
- How should adverse event reporting be addressed online?
In essence, the hearings really focused on the question of of
accountability and transparency is an organization responsible for
through the social channel. This is a real groundbreaking on the part
of the FDA to consider and try to understand what is happening in
social media. It is it changing the rules of engagement now that
customers and consumers have a vibrant and ever present medium to
communicate and share their opinions and experiences.
While much of this discussion and information exchanged is specifically
related to the healthcare industry, in many ways it brings to light the
disruptive and game-changing nature of social. While B2B face a
different set of challenges than pharmaceutical, the lessons learned
from this FDA event drive home that the social channel can not be
ignored - or worse- banned from the enterprise. It is widely used and
its impact is in fact significant.
Organizations need to figure out a way to appropriately integrate
social media awareness, responsiveness and monitoring into their best
practice operations. Brand managers can not turn a blind eye to the
power and impact of social influence .Customers, clients, patients,
users are engaging online and this is a force that can't be stopped.
Clients are talking but are you responding? How should you react or
respond to issues that fly across the twitter channel? How seriously do
you need to take one customer's issues - whether or not they are raised
in a public forum or not? Do you have a best practice triage plan or a
social media policy to help guide employees use of social media as a
company representative? These and many more are the business questions
that emerge through the trigger of the FDA hearings as applied in a
business context.
Whats to come of the FDA hearings remains uncertain but they are now
armed and able to think strategically about how to make the best use of
the information before them from the social channel. Are you?