With the rapid pace of advances in oncology care ever-quickening; with the paradigm of oncology care evolving from short-term treatment and palliation to long-term chronic disease management; and with the constant need to integrate these changes into practices ranging from the small, rural, two-physician group practice up to the largest inner-city academic medical center — traditional forms of information management and knowledge sharing are being pushed to their breaking point. Enter social media. The problem? How to use it effectively.

At a meeting of 30,000 healthcare professionals, in the back corner of a room that could easily hold 15,000 standing at arm's length, amid a cluster of upwards of a hundred 60-inch round tables, I found myself among a motley group of 15 to 20 folks gathered at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology Tweetup, held during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June. Our mission: to tackle the ins and outs of Twitter, a microblogging tool that's rapidly gaining a dominant foothold in the world of social media — and medical education. And, of course, to actually meet face to face after knowing each other mainly through Twitter.

Among those who gathered at the 2010 ASCO Tweetup were several oncologists (including one ASCO board member), employees from medical education companies, publishers/journalists, ASCO staff members, and industry professionals from around the world. Each of the “partwicipants” — Twitter aficionados tend to use words that play off of the Twitter name, sometimes to the point of terminal cuteness — wore a name tag bearing both a birth name and an @twitter name (e.g., Brian; @CMEAdvocate). (See the Twitter Glossary at left for more about Twitter and some common terms.)

Several attendees introduced themselves as being Twitter novices, others were known as leaders in integrating oncology with social media. The perspectives were broad and experiences were diverse — and this would prove invaluable to the discussions that progressed over the approximately hour-long meeting. Before going into what we discussed, I would like to disclose that I currently work for Pfizer, that the opinions shared here are my own and not those of my employer, and that this article was written as a volunteer effort to help medical organizations understand the value of social media technologies.

ASCO Takes the Lead

Shortly after ASCO staff and the board member in “attwendance” began their opening remarks, it became abundantly clear that the society had embraced the potential of social media to improve the overall experience, reach, and value of the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting. Here's a short list of social media strategies they mentioned ASCO was using for its meeting:

• The www.asco.org/twitter URL was designed serve as a depot for social media strategies.

• An ASCO staffer tweeted on behalf of the organization throughout the meeting on the @ASCO account.

• A series of hashtags were created to simplify communications and knowledge sharing: #ASCO for general ASCO information, #ASCO10 as the official 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting hashtag, and the #ASCOehr hashtag was created just for electronic health record-related discussions.

Then we moved into a free-form discussion about general experiences with Twitter and other forms of social media by medical societies and associations. Our goal was to develop a list of topics that ASCO could consider or act upon to improve the services and the education it provides to its members. What we walked away with was far from a definitive road map for using social media, but just capturing and organizing the discussion into workable themes should help ASCO — and all medical societies and associations — develop plans to make the most of social media platforms.

One practical take-away to consider is to hold a tweetup of your own at your next meeting. Those engaged in social media are very open to sharing best practices, and this is a relatively easy and cost-neutral action item. If you do decide to try it, though, find a quiet place to hold it.Though the cavernous space in the back of the professional's hall at the ASCO Tweetup provided ample elbow room, the meeting lacked the intimacy and ambience suitable for easy listening.

The group also thought it would be a good idea to develop working committees to address each of the following work streams: policy, education/information sharing, and logistics/operations. After much discussion, here are some ideas — and answers — we came up with for each of these areas.

Developing a Policy

While we quickly concluded that organizations should develop a social media policy, there was little consensus on what constitute best practices. However, we did come up with some points to consider.

Societies/associations should think carefully about who they “follow.” In Twitter, as with other forms of social media, there is an important distinction between whom you elect to follow and who elects to follow you: The first process is active, the second passive. Once you establish an account, your primary goal is to develop a social network. This won't happen overnight, but your sphere of influence will grow as you interact with other twitterers.

The general consensus of those gathered at the ASCO 2010 Tweetup was that when you choose to follow an account, you are tacitly endorsing that account, which could a have significant impact on how others perceive your organization. This doesn't mean you shouldn't participate in social media — in fact, social media participation provides a significant opportunity to build a brand and advance your mission. Just do it carefully. Policy consultant and social media expert John Michael O'Brien, PharmD, MPH, offered these three options:

1. Societies/associations may choose not to follow any other accounts, because their leadership fears being perceived as endorsing those they follow — or slighting those they don't. However, they risk missing important communications about their organization or issues affecting their membership.

2. They may also create an official account that follows verified members, staff, partners, opinion leaders in their field, and meeting attendees. This approach keeps the organization aware of meeting and membership issues while still granting “exclusivity” to those who support their mission.

3. Organizations that elect to follow anyone who follows them (the “followback” strategy) have the greatest potential to monitor communications of interest and communicate with the largest possible audience. However, they may struggle with filtering incoming tweets and follow “controversial” or less-reputable accounts.

Another thing to consider is the idea of establishing a “technomentor” program. This is a spin on former GE chairman and CEO Jack Welch's theory that you can ensure progress by establishing a youth mentor — someone who is in touch with existing technologies and possibilities. Though the technomentor role doesn't have to be age-dependent, it is key to ensure that organizations remain open to new technologies. Welch would suggest that this should be formalized, not left to chance.

We just so happened to have such a person in our midst: an oncology fellow from New Mexico who was recognized for the work and advice he had provided leading up to the ASCO 2010 Annual Meeting — he was unofficially nominated, seconded, and approved unanimously as the founding ASCO Technomentor … though I am not sure the vote was binding.

Additional policy considerations included how ownership and copyright matters should be managed and enforced. The general consensus was that it would be nearly impossible to police attendees sending out “twitpics” of slides or content. As one participant said, “I stopped carrying a notebook years ago. Now I take pictures and write my notes on my smartphone.”

Also, the group agreed that it is important to point out that the presentations and slides at the ASCO meeting are ASCO's intellectual property, although ASCO has permitted attendees to photograph slides during sessions (as long as flash photography is not used) for personal use. All of the presentations at the ASCO Annual Meeting are available for purchase at the ASCO “Virtual Meeting” (www.asco.org/virtualmeeting).

We discussed the approach a recent congress took: Obligating each presenter to set his or her own policy on copyright, ownership, and social media. As one person recalled, “at the meeting, each faculty member had to have an opening slide that gave a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down on photography and twittering during their session … but if you walked into the session a few minutes late, you had no idea what the rules were.”

Similarly, there are several examples of social media and embargo crashing headlong into one another (See Embargowatch post: http://bit.ly/cFJNXL.)

Next Page: Education/Information Sharing