Discussions about health care are everywhere right now, from local Town Hall meetings to Capitol Hill. But nowhere has the conversation become more active than on the Internet. Americans are blogging and Tweeting about their health care and conditions, texting and e-mailing their doctors, networking with others who have similar symptoms, searching for health information and insurance options, and researching just what the heck is going on with national health care reform. There’s no doubt about it: health care is a hot topic. 

With the advent of social media, patients can now create their own web content consisting of pictures, videos, blogs and tweets. This allows people to network and share information about their experiences like never before. It also gives a voice to patients and health care consumers. People who have experienced a medical condition, whether it be diabetes, food allergies, mental illness or even pregnancy, have access to information and expertise on nearly any topic.

According to a report by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn and the California HealthCare Foundation, The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Social Media, online sharing about health has gone global. On the website PatientsLikeMe.com, “people from many countries convene to share personal information on drug dosages, side effects and medical histories for Multiple Sclerosis (MS), as well as other conditions. The collective wisdom on this Web site may rival the body of information that any single medical school or pharmaceutical company has assembled in the field of MS.”

With this type of knowledge at their fingertips, patients can learn about and discuss symptoms, medications and treatment options. They are empowered to improve their own care and health outcomes.

Businesses in the field are catching on to this phenomenon and starting their own forums for patient discussion, Twitter accounts and Facebook sites. It makes the traditional health care model more accessible for patients and information-seekers, but also provides businesses with a targeted group where they can push health-related advertising. Sarasohn-Kahn says that, “Advertising support from health companies, such as plans, providers, and medical device and pharmaceutical companies seems to be a natural revenue source for Health 2.0 programs. However, consumers online may question their motivation in supporting the sites.”

Building trust in an online community is paramount to the success of social media and health care, and it’s why so many patient-driven sites have done well. It’s important that health care businesses looking to break into the social media realm understand the need for consumers to create their own content. The more authentic and engaging the site is for patients and consumers, the more they will utilize and trust the content.