Harriet Messenger – How has social media transformed our lives? And how do you see it transforming health care?
Daniel Ghinn – Social media is transforming our lives in so many ways. I think all the benefits we’re getting through social media are now happening in health care. For example, social media is great for connecting people who share experiences, this is greatly beneficial in health care – whether it’s bringing patients together or building strong communications between health care providers.
It enables us to learn from one another, to get support and to share ideas in ways that would never have been possible in the non-digital communities that we lived in before the explosion of digital.
HM – Who is using social media? Is it patients, health professionals, pharmaceutical companies?
DG – To some extent it is probably a reasonable generalisation to say everybody, but in so many different ways. Patients, I believe, led the digital health revolution. Patients coming together, collaborating, sharing experiences and learning from each other on how to connect with other diverse areas.
