The Optimized Doctor

Most physicians have a practice website, a static "digital storefront" that provides patients with basic information such as location, hours, and staff bios. That was sufficient once; it’s not any longer.

A blog, short for web-log, gives you the opportunity to create a dynamic site, with fresh, accurate, current information. If you’re on Twitter and Facebook, you might think a blog is unnecessary. You’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the ideal source for material to share on social sites like Facebook.

Starting a blog is easy and inexpensive. It can even be free with sites like WordPress or Tumblr (both of which I use). I’m unable to go into details here, but tutorials can easily be found online. Blogging sites worth reading include Copyblogger, The Minimalists, and Chris Brogan.

So why should you blog? The top reasons include:

• Patient education. Eighty percent of people who are online have searched for health information. I’m sure you have had patients share erroneous medical information with you that they’ve found online. Instead of just complaining about it, we can do something to change it: Create and share good content for both your current and prospective patients.

• Become a trusted spokesperson or expert. Blogging regularly and sharing content on social sites like Twitter and Facebook, provides writers, editors, and producers the opportunity to contact you. Being quoted in a national magazine or appearing on a local television show is also a great way to reach new patients. Remember, too, that regularly updated blogs are frequently crawled by search engines, which means over time, more traffic will come to your blog.

• Become a valued member of the community. Whether it’s to help promote a local race for psoriasis or to educate the community about a measles outbreak, you can use your blog to reach out in a positive way. This is also a great way for doctors new to a neighborhood to find patients.

• Show your personable side. More than ever before, patients are searching online to find the right physician. When patients read your blog and watch you in a video, they begin to establish trust.

• Reduce workload. No, I’m not being sarcastic. We all have instructions and advice that we repeat verbatim to our patients over and over. Instead of having to do this all the time, write a blog post or do a short video that will live forever. This is especially important for postoperative instructions that patients may like to watch at home. It’s also helpful for caregivers who weren’t at the visit.

As for blogging best practices, if you can’t do it alone (and most of us can’t because of time constraints), enlist the help of trusted office staff. Assign a blog manager who is responsible for an editorial calendar, updates, and responding to comments in a timely manner.

Use your blog for patient education and outreach, not marketing. Readers want value. Bombard them with product and procedure pushing, and they’ll run away.

Be authentic, honest, and transparent.

Be conversational and engaging. Patients don’t want to read doctor speak. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include studies, statistics, and the like.

Never write about a specific patient by name or in a way that he or she could be re-identified or that violates HIPAA.

Tell stories. Readers remember them.

Write clearly and concisely, keeping blog posts under 400 words.

Post a minimum of once a week; however, two to three times a week is best for search engines.

Respond to both positive and negative comments in a professional, nonconfrontational manner.

Offer an RSS feed so people can easily follow along.

Be patient. It may take time for people to find your blog, but once they do, you’ll feel both personally and professionally rewarded.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Most physicians have a practice website, a static "digital storefront" that provides patients with basic information such as location, hours, and staff bios. That was sufficient once; it’s not any longer.

A blog, short for web-log, gives you the opportunity to create a dynamic site, with fresh, accurate, current information. If you’re on Twitter and Facebook, you might think a blog is unnecessary. You’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the ideal source for material to share on social sites like Facebook.

Starting a blog is easy and inexpensive. It can even be free with sites like WordPress or Tumblr (both of which I use). I’m unable to go into details here, but tutorials can easily be found online. Blogging sites worth reading include Copyblogger, The Minimalists, and Chris Brogan.

So why should you blog? The top reasons include:

• Patient education. Eighty percent of people who are online have searched for health information. I’m sure you have had patients share erroneous medical information with you that they’ve found online. Instead of just complaining about it, we can do something to change it: Create and share good content for both your current and prospective patients.

• Become a trusted spokesperson or expert. Blogging regularly and sharing content on social sites like Twitter and Facebook, provides writers, editors, and producers the opportunity to contact you. Being quoted in a national magazine or appearing on a local television show is also a great way to reach new patients. Remember, too, that regularly updated blogs are frequently crawled by search engines, which means over time, more traffic will come to your blog.

• Become a valued member of the community. Whether it’s to help promote a local race for psoriasis or to educate the community about a measles outbreak, you can use your blog to reach out in a positive way. This is also a great way for doctors new to a neighborhood to find patients.

• Show your personable side. More than ever before, patients are searching online to find the right physician. When patients read your blog and watch you in a video, they begin to establish trust.

• Reduce workload. No, I’m not being sarcastic. We all have instructions and advice that we repeat verbatim to our patients over and over. Instead of having to do this all the time, write a blog post or do a short video that will live forever. This is especially important for postoperative instructions that patients may like to watch at home. It’s also helpful for caregivers who weren’t at the visit.

As for blogging best practices, if you can’t do it alone (and most of us can’t because of time constraints), enlist the help of trusted office staff. Assign a blog manager who is responsible for an editorial calendar, updates, and responding to comments in a timely manner.

Use your blog for patient education and outreach, not marketing. Readers want value. Bombard them with product and procedure pushing, and they’ll run away.

Be authentic, honest, and transparent.

Be conversational and engaging. Patients don’t want to read doctor speak. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include studies, statistics, and the like.

Never write about a specific patient by name or in a way that he or she could be re-identified or that violates HIPAA.

Tell stories. Readers remember them.

Write clearly and concisely, keeping blog posts under 400 words.

Post a minimum of once a week; however, two to three times a week is best for search engines.

Respond to both positive and negative comments in a professional, nonconfrontational manner.

Offer an RSS feed so people can easily follow along.

Be patient. It may take time for people to find your blog, but once they do, you’ll feel both personally and professionally rewarded.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Most physicians have a practice website, a static "digital storefront" that provides patients with basic information such as location, hours, and staff bios. That was sufficient once; it’s not any longer.

A blog, short for web-log, gives you the opportunity to create a dynamic site, with fresh, accurate, current information. If you’re on Twitter and Facebook, you might think a blog is unnecessary. You’d be wrong. In fact, it’s the ideal source for material to share on social sites like Facebook.

Starting a blog is easy and inexpensive. It can even be free with sites like WordPress or Tumblr (both of which I use). I’m unable to go into details here, but tutorials can easily be found online. Blogging sites worth reading include Copyblogger, The Minimalists, and Chris Brogan.

So why should you blog? The top reasons include:

• Patient education. Eighty percent of people who are online have searched for health information. I’m sure you have had patients share erroneous medical information with you that they’ve found online. Instead of just complaining about it, we can do something to change it: Create and share good content for both your current and prospective patients.

• Become a trusted spokesperson or expert. Blogging regularly and sharing content on social sites like Twitter and Facebook, provides writers, editors, and producers the opportunity to contact you. Being quoted in a national magazine or appearing on a local television show is also a great way to reach new patients. Remember, too, that regularly updated blogs are frequently crawled by search engines, which means over time, more traffic will come to your blog.

• Become a valued member of the community. Whether it’s to help promote a local race for psoriasis or to educate the community about a measles outbreak, you can use your blog to reach out in a positive way. This is also a great way for doctors new to a neighborhood to find patients.

• Show your personable side. More than ever before, patients are searching online to find the right physician. When patients read your blog and watch you in a video, they begin to establish trust.

• Reduce workload. No, I’m not being sarcastic. We all have instructions and advice that we repeat verbatim to our patients over and over. Instead of having to do this all the time, write a blog post or do a short video that will live forever. This is especially important for postoperative instructions that patients may like to watch at home. It’s also helpful for caregivers who weren’t at the visit.

As for blogging best practices, if you can’t do it alone (and most of us can’t because of time constraints), enlist the help of trusted office staff. Assign a blog manager who is responsible for an editorial calendar, updates, and responding to comments in a timely manner.

Use your blog for patient education and outreach, not marketing. Readers want value. Bombard them with product and procedure pushing, and they’ll run away.

Be authentic, honest, and transparent.

Be conversational and engaging. Patients don’t want to read doctor speak. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include studies, statistics, and the like.

Never write about a specific patient by name or in a way that he or she could be re-identified or that violates HIPAA.

Tell stories. Readers remember them.

Write clearly and concisely, keeping blog posts under 400 words.

Post a minimum of once a week; however, two to three times a week is best for search engines.

Respond to both positive and negative comments in a professional, nonconfrontational manner.

Offer an RSS feed so people can easily follow along.

Be patient. It may take time for people to find your blog, but once they do, you’ll feel both personally and professionally rewarded.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog at http://thedermblog.com; connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

There have been four revolutions that have fundamentally changed the way we communicate, according to Clay Shirky, a New York University professor and social media theorist: the printing press, the telephone and telegraph, television and radio, and social media.

On rating sites, such as Yelp and DrScore, and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, patients are connecting and sharing information about their health and about you. You have a choice: You can participate in that conversation, or you can let it happen without you.

In a survey of 4,000 physicians, QuantiaMD found that nearly 90% of physicians reported using Facebook for personal use and 67% used it professionally. So what about the other 33%?

Physicians cite many barriers to using social media. The most common include lack of time, failure to see return on investment, concerns about patient safety, and not knowing where to begin.

While there are scores of social media options available to physicians, I recommend starting with the following: having a website or blog and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube or Vimeo. These sites will help you to engage with and educate your patients and prospective patients, market and build your practice, gain professional clout, and protect your online reputation.

• Website/Blog. Having a static practice website that is never updated is passé. Sure, your website should include information about scheduling, hours, and products, but it should also be regularly updated with new information. In this way, your website can also serve as your blog, a place where you can post articles on topics of interest to your current and prospective patients. It’s best to start with a website/blog so you can create relevant content to share on social media sites.

• Facebook. The rock star of social networking sites was launched in 2004 and recently reached over 1 billion active users. Your patients, current and prospective, as well as your competition, are on Facebook. And you should be, too. Facebook allows for you to have both personal and professional pages, to add friends, to categorize friends, and to even "unfriend" friends. You can exchange both public and private messages, and unlike Twitter, you have the ability to monitor what others post on your page; and you can delete inappropriate material when necessary.

• Twitter. This online social networking site allows users to create messages that are up to 140 characters, known as "tweets." As such, it can be challenging for a newbie to know what to say, how to say it cleverly enough to get "retweeted" or shared, and how to get people engaged long-term. Benefits for physicians, however, include engaging in real-time conversation, sharing breaking news, and discovering hot topics.

• LinkedIn. This social networking site is used primarily by professionals and is effective for making business contacts, hiring, and networking.

• Video. You should consider having a YouTube or Vimeo account because a video post is 50 times more likely to get picked up in a Google search than is a written post, and because 3 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. Video also allows prospective patients to get to know you and increases your visibility as an educator and expert in the field.

You can ignore all of this and hope it goes away, but the younger generation of physicians entering the field today isn’t. Or you could contract out your social media work to a professional company. Or you and your staff could do it. I’ll speak about these options in future columns.

DR. BENABIO is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog or connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

There have been four revolutions that have fundamentally changed the way we communicate, according to Clay Shirky, a New York University professor and social media theorist: the printing press, the telephone and telegraph, television and radio, and social media.

On rating sites, such as Yelp and DrScore, and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, patients are connecting and sharing information about their health and about you. You have a choice: You can participate in that conversation, or you can let it happen without you.

In a survey of 4,000 physicians, QuantiaMD found that nearly 90% of physicians reported using Facebook for personal use and 67% used it professionally. So what about the other 33%?

Physicians cite many barriers to using social media. The most common include lack of time, failure to see return on investment, concerns about patient safety, and not knowing where to begin.

While there are scores of social media options available to physicians, I recommend starting with the following: having a website or blog and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube or Vimeo. These sites will help you to engage with and educate your patients and prospective patients, market and build your practice, gain professional clout, and protect your online reputation.

• Website/Blog. Having a static practice website that is never updated is passé. Sure, your website should include information about scheduling, hours, and products, but it should also be regularly updated with new information. In this way, your website can also serve as your blog, a place where you can post articles on topics of interest to your current and prospective patients. It’s best to start with a website/blog so you can create relevant content to share on social media sites.

• Facebook. The rock star of social networking sites was launched in 2004 and recently reached over 1 billion active users. Your patients, current and prospective, as well as your competition, are on Facebook. And you should be, too. Facebook allows for you to have both personal and professional pages, to add friends, to categorize friends, and to even "unfriend" friends. You can exchange both public and private messages, and unlike Twitter, you have the ability to monitor what others post on your page; and you can delete inappropriate material when necessary.

• Twitter. This online social networking site allows users to create messages that are up to 140 characters, known as "tweets." As such, it can be challenging for a newbie to know what to say, how to say it cleverly enough to get "retweeted" or shared, and how to get people engaged long-term. Benefits for physicians, however, include engaging in real-time conversation, sharing breaking news, and discovering hot topics.

• LinkedIn. This social networking site is used primarily by professionals and is effective for making business contacts, hiring, and networking.

• Video. You should consider having a YouTube or Vimeo account because a video post is 50 times more likely to get picked up in a Google search than is a written post, and because 3 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. Video also allows prospective patients to get to know you and increases your visibility as an educator and expert in the field.

You can ignore all of this and hope it goes away, but the younger generation of physicians entering the field today isn’t. Or you could contract out your social media work to a professional company. Or you and your staff could do it. I’ll speak about these options in future columns.

DR. BENABIO is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog or connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

There have been four revolutions that have fundamentally changed the way we communicate, according to Clay Shirky, a New York University professor and social media theorist: the printing press, the telephone and telegraph, television and radio, and social media.

On rating sites, such as Yelp and DrScore, and social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, patients are connecting and sharing information about their health and about you. You have a choice: You can participate in that conversation, or you can let it happen without you.

In a survey of 4,000 physicians, QuantiaMD found that nearly 90% of physicians reported using Facebook for personal use and 67% used it professionally. So what about the other 33%?

Physicians cite many barriers to using social media. The most common include lack of time, failure to see return on investment, concerns about patient safety, and not knowing where to begin.

While there are scores of social media options available to physicians, I recommend starting with the following: having a website or blog and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube or Vimeo. These sites will help you to engage with and educate your patients and prospective patients, market and build your practice, gain professional clout, and protect your online reputation.

• Website/Blog. Having a static practice website that is never updated is passé. Sure, your website should include information about scheduling, hours, and products, but it should also be regularly updated with new information. In this way, your website can also serve as your blog, a place where you can post articles on topics of interest to your current and prospective patients. It’s best to start with a website/blog so you can create relevant content to share on social media sites.

• Facebook. The rock star of social networking sites was launched in 2004 and recently reached over 1 billion active users. Your patients, current and prospective, as well as your competition, are on Facebook. And you should be, too. Facebook allows for you to have both personal and professional pages, to add friends, to categorize friends, and to even "unfriend" friends. You can exchange both public and private messages, and unlike Twitter, you have the ability to monitor what others post on your page; and you can delete inappropriate material when necessary.

• Twitter. This online social networking site allows users to create messages that are up to 140 characters, known as "tweets." As such, it can be challenging for a newbie to know what to say, how to say it cleverly enough to get "retweeted" or shared, and how to get people engaged long-term. Benefits for physicians, however, include engaging in real-time conversation, sharing breaking news, and discovering hot topics.

• LinkedIn. This social networking site is used primarily by professionals and is effective for making business contacts, hiring, and networking.

• Video. You should consider having a YouTube or Vimeo account because a video post is 50 times more likely to get picked up in a Google search than is a written post, and because 3 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. Video also allows prospective patients to get to know you and increases your visibility as an educator and expert in the field.

You can ignore all of this and hope it goes away, but the younger generation of physicians entering the field today isn’t. Or you could contract out your social media work to a professional company. Or you and your staff could do it. I’ll speak about these options in future columns.

DR. BENABIO is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog or connect with him on Twitter @Dermdoc and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Yesterday, 526 million people went on Facebook. Why? What happened yesterday? Nothing happened. A half-billion people visit Facebook every day.

In fact, when this article went to print, Facebook was on the cusp of reaching more than 1 billion users. Chances are you’re one of them. But are you using Facebook to help build your practice? If you’re like many of our colleagues, you know you need to be using social media, but you may find it to be overwhelming, and you don’t know where to begin. I’m here to help.

I’ve been writing about, speaking about, and participating in social media for the last 5 years. I have had over 4 million visits to my blog; I have over 15,000 followers on Twitter; and my videos on YouTube have been viewed almost 100,000 times. I don’t do all of this to build my practice (I work at an HMO), or to make more money (I’m paid a set salary regardless of the number of patients I see); rather, I do it because it is becoming an integral part of practicing medicine and will be a requisite skill for successful dermatologists.

I’m on social media daily, where I listen, respond, engage, and teach, because that’s where our patients are: Three-quarters of all Internet searches are health related, and one in five people on Facebook is looking for health care information. And it’s my hope to inspire and support you in doing the same, and to help you pursue your own social media goals.

So for this inaugural column, let’s start with the basics: What are social media, and why do you need to use them?

Social media refer to web-based and mobile technologies that allow people to connect and share information with one another. Think of them as ways to have digital conversations. People flock to Facebook because sociability is a core human characteristic. Humans are compelled to interact with others.

Connecting with people at meetings, parties, and meals is what we’ve always done. Now, powerful technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, make that connection easier than ever. Instead of sharing stories with your family on special occasions, you can share stories and photos with them anytime, anywhere, instantaneously. That’s why Facebook will soon have more than 1 billion subscribers.

Why is this important for your dermatology practice? Word of mouth has always been the most valuable way dermatologists have built their practices. But now, technologies such as Yelp and DrScore enable patients to spread word of mouth far beyond what was previously possible. Rating sites like these are fundamentally social media sites – places where patients connect and share information (in this case, information about you).

Every physician has a social media presence. Don’t believe me? Google yourself. Many of the links that are on your first page will lead to some type of social media site. You can choose to remain an object of other people’s conversations, or you can become an active participant in them instead.

Engaging in social media can mean having a practice Facebook page, a video channel, and perhaps even a blog or Twitter account. These tools will help you to engage and educate patients and prospective patients about yourself, to market and build your practice, and to protect your online reputation. Social media sites can also help you to build and maintain relationships with other physicians, learn from colleagues, and engage in continuing medical education.

As with learning a new surgical technique, the beginning is always the hardest part.

In columns to come, I hope to help you understand the fundamentals of web-based technologies, because once you understand the basic concepts, you can choose which media to use based on your needs and the needs of your practice.

Just as you can’t contract out CME, you can’t contract out social media. The tools are just technological enhancements of real person-to-person interactions. Your patients know and like you because they’ve built a relationship with you in your office. Similarly, your online presence will need to be genuine, or people will quickly realize it’s not actually you.

Learning social media isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming. I look forward to your questions, feedback, and discussion as we all boldly go forth into the future of medical practice.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog; connect with him on Twitter (@Dermdoc) and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Yesterday, 526 million people went on Facebook. Why? What happened yesterday? Nothing happened. A half-billion people visit Facebook every day.

In fact, when this article went to print, Facebook was on the cusp of reaching more than 1 billion users. Chances are you’re one of them. But are you using Facebook to help build your practice? If you’re like many of our colleagues, you know you need to be using social media, but you may find it to be overwhelming, and you don’t know where to begin. I’m here to help.

I’ve been writing about, speaking about, and participating in social media for the last 5 years. I have had over 4 million visits to my blog; I have over 15,000 followers on Twitter; and my videos on YouTube have been viewed almost 100,000 times. I don’t do all of this to build my practice (I work at an HMO), or to make more money (I’m paid a set salary regardless of the number of patients I see); rather, I do it because it is becoming an integral part of practicing medicine and will be a requisite skill for successful dermatologists.

I’m on social media daily, where I listen, respond, engage, and teach, because that’s where our patients are: Three-quarters of all Internet searches are health related, and one in five people on Facebook is looking for health care information. And it’s my hope to inspire and support you in doing the same, and to help you pursue your own social media goals.

So for this inaugural column, let’s start with the basics: What are social media, and why do you need to use them?

Social media refer to web-based and mobile technologies that allow people to connect and share information with one another. Think of them as ways to have digital conversations. People flock to Facebook because sociability is a core human characteristic. Humans are compelled to interact with others.

Connecting with people at meetings, parties, and meals is what we’ve always done. Now, powerful technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, make that connection easier than ever. Instead of sharing stories with your family on special occasions, you can share stories and photos with them anytime, anywhere, instantaneously. That’s why Facebook will soon have more than 1 billion subscribers.

Why is this important for your dermatology practice? Word of mouth has always been the most valuable way dermatologists have built their practices. But now, technologies such as Yelp and DrScore enable patients to spread word of mouth far beyond what was previously possible. Rating sites like these are fundamentally social media sites – places where patients connect and share information (in this case, information about you).

Every physician has a social media presence. Don’t believe me? Google yourself. Many of the links that are on your first page will lead to some type of social media site. You can choose to remain an object of other people’s conversations, or you can become an active participant in them instead.

Engaging in social media can mean having a practice Facebook page, a video channel, and perhaps even a blog or Twitter account. These tools will help you to engage and educate patients and prospective patients about yourself, to market and build your practice, and to protect your online reputation. Social media sites can also help you to build and maintain relationships with other physicians, learn from colleagues, and engage in continuing medical education.

As with learning a new surgical technique, the beginning is always the hardest part.

In columns to come, I hope to help you understand the fundamentals of web-based technologies, because once you understand the basic concepts, you can choose which media to use based on your needs and the needs of your practice.

Just as you can’t contract out CME, you can’t contract out social media. The tools are just technological enhancements of real person-to-person interactions. Your patients know and like you because they’ve built a relationship with you in your office. Similarly, your online presence will need to be genuine, or people will quickly realize it’s not actually you.

Learning social media isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming. I look forward to your questions, feedback, and discussion as we all boldly go forth into the future of medical practice.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog; connect with him on Twitter (@Dermdoc) and on Facebook (DermDoc).

Yesterday, 526 million people went on Facebook. Why? What happened yesterday? Nothing happened. A half-billion people visit Facebook every day.

In fact, when this article went to print, Facebook was on the cusp of reaching more than 1 billion users. Chances are you’re one of them. But are you using Facebook to help build your practice? If you’re like many of our colleagues, you know you need to be using social media, but you may find it to be overwhelming, and you don’t know where to begin. I’m here to help.

I’ve been writing about, speaking about, and participating in social media for the last 5 years. I have had over 4 million visits to my blog; I have over 15,000 followers on Twitter; and my videos on YouTube have been viewed almost 100,000 times. I don’t do all of this to build my practice (I work at an HMO), or to make more money (I’m paid a set salary regardless of the number of patients I see); rather, I do it because it is becoming an integral part of practicing medicine and will be a requisite skill for successful dermatologists.

I’m on social media daily, where I listen, respond, engage, and teach, because that’s where our patients are: Three-quarters of all Internet searches are health related, and one in five people on Facebook is looking for health care information. And it’s my hope to inspire and support you in doing the same, and to help you pursue your own social media goals.

So for this inaugural column, let’s start with the basics: What are social media, and why do you need to use them?

Social media refer to web-based and mobile technologies that allow people to connect and share information with one another. Think of them as ways to have digital conversations. People flock to Facebook because sociability is a core human characteristic. Humans are compelled to interact with others.

Connecting with people at meetings, parties, and meals is what we’ve always done. Now, powerful technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, make that connection easier than ever. Instead of sharing stories with your family on special occasions, you can share stories and photos with them anytime, anywhere, instantaneously. That’s why Facebook will soon have more than 1 billion subscribers.

Why is this important for your dermatology practice? Word of mouth has always been the most valuable way dermatologists have built their practices. But now, technologies such as Yelp and DrScore enable patients to spread word of mouth far beyond what was previously possible. Rating sites like these are fundamentally social media sites – places where patients connect and share information (in this case, information about you).

Every physician has a social media presence. Don’t believe me? Google yourself. Many of the links that are on your first page will lead to some type of social media site. You can choose to remain an object of other people’s conversations, or you can become an active participant in them instead.

Engaging in social media can mean having a practice Facebook page, a video channel, and perhaps even a blog or Twitter account. These tools will help you to engage and educate patients and prospective patients about yourself, to market and build your practice, and to protect your online reputation. Social media sites can also help you to build and maintain relationships with other physicians, learn from colleagues, and engage in continuing medical education.

As with learning a new surgical technique, the beginning is always the hardest part.

In columns to come, I hope to help you understand the fundamentals of web-based technologies, because once you understand the basic concepts, you can choose which media to use based on your needs and the needs of your practice.

Just as you can’t contract out CME, you can’t contract out social media. The tools are just technological enhancements of real person-to-person interactions. Your patients know and like you because they’ve built a relationship with you in your office. Similarly, your online presence will need to be genuine, or people will quickly realize it’s not actually you.

Learning social media isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming. I look forward to your questions, feedback, and discussion as we all boldly go forth into the future of medical practice.

Dr. Benabio is in private practice in San Diego. Visit his consumer health blog; connect with him on Twitter (@Dermdoc) and on Facebook (DermDoc).