Interview with iHealthBeat

Journalist Kate Ackerman of iHealthBeat, one of Bunny's favorite go-to sources, discussed the findings of Bunny's white paper The Social Physician in Physician Community Divided Over Social Media. Excerpt below.

Why Doctors Are Taking the Social Media Plunge

For a new report, titled "The Social Physician," Bunny Ellerin -- co-founder of NYC Health Business Leaders and president of Ellerin Health Media -- spoke with 10 active social media users.

Ellerin said physicians' reasons for using social media depend somewhat on the medium. She said, "On Twitter, it's definitely about interacting with other doctors. I look at Twitter very much as an information hub where people are connecting about studies and research. ... It's very professional oriented." On the other hand, "when a doctor takes it upon him or herself to blog ... I think it's very much about connecting with patients," Ellerin said.

According to Ellerin, doctors who are using social media tools "feel like, 'You know, it's probably time for us to let the guard down somewhat and let people into our world and see our decision-making process.'" She said, "Much of it is just so related to patient improvement and patient care," adding that physicians want to help patients sift through the plethora of information on the Web to find accurate resources.