Diabetes Social Media Summit
I think I'm the last person to write-up about this meeting so consider this a short recap.Roche Diagnostics organized this meetup with help from Amy Tenderich and Manny Hernandez. Roche paid all of our expenses to and from the meeting and put us up in a comfortable hotel. I know that going into this summit I was nervous because I really didn't know what to expect. One concern we all shared was whether Roche was going to use the summit to do a big sales job to us. In the end, we all learned from the experience and Roche did an excellent job focusing on social media, and how to engage with it, while keeping marketing away.
We arrived at our hotel on Wednesday evening and had a dinner hosted by Roche at a local restaurant. Each table had 2-3 bloggers and a corresponding number of Roche staff. Despite this, and I know I wasn't alone, we had an opportunity to talk with Roche people about a number of topics including, in my case, the Disetronic insulin pump (aka Accu-chek Spirit) and when it might be available again in the US. At some stage I'd like to review it, hopefully I will have that opportunity.
After a late night talking with each other, we were up early (and not so bright) for a 7:30 trip to Roche offices. Manny Hernandez led us in an exercise where we tried to think about how to increase our outreach to people with diabetes. The 500,000 to 1 million (estimated) people that read our collective blogs already know we exist, but what about the millions of people who are struggling with diabetes without much support except from office visits 2 - 4 times a year.
Some ideas that I liked:
- Provide information to doctors offices with a list of qualified online resources that can help people with diabetes. (Gina Capone's excellent Diabetes OC is a great reference site if you're trying to get information about diabetes.)
- Form a loose association of blogs and try to focus on a single topic once every few months. We could issue a press release to media around this event and spread awareness of a specific diabetes issue. Eventually media might pay attention to this reliable source for diabetes information and news.
I think Roche showed a lot of courage in organizing this first-time event. We bloggers benefited because we had a chance to build stronger connections. I hope that some of the very direct feedback we gave Roche will help them as they try to improve their message for folks with diabetes. (Hint: don't use stock photos, show real people with diabetes in realistic situations: carb counting; testing while exercising; correcting a low; etc.)
Our smiling faces are below, if you click on it you'll get to a page with a link to each blogger. If you want more information about the summit, each of them has provided a slightly different take on it.
Labels: bloggers, diabetes, friendship, meetup, Roche, summit
posted by Bernard @ 9:06 PM
8 Comments:
Nice review. I like the ideas you guys came up with. I know they are just beginning, but how would it be decided which blogs are listed for the doctors/press releases, etc. I know there are some diabetic blogs I read that you don't and I am sure you read some that I don't. It would be a shame to miss out on a valuable contributor just because someone doesn't know about them.
Bernard-
Excellent, well written post- well put together and absolutely worth the wait!
I was so happy to see you there - You make me laugh; you make me think, and you always make me smile!
Hope to see you very soon!
Kelly K
Great Post. It's cool reading everyones take on summit. I agree, How can we reach the PWD's who don't have access to the internet? Church, Health fair's, meet-ups, volunteer to speak at a health event. Thanks for sharing.
Has the link to the picture showing the links to each persons website been disconnected?
Bob Fenton (robertia on dLife forum)
This post has been removed by the author.
Bob
The picture with the links to each website is over here, I hope this works for you.
I hope I have shared, with as much enthusiasm as I feel, just how great it was to meet you in person.
Excellent review on the summit. I think one of the scary things with industry getting into social media is that we, as patients, can be very unforgiving. If they make a wrong move, we're very likely to write them off, and before you know it they are lost in the growing ocean that is social media.
Think about it - how often do you check back with bloggers/tweeters, that you disliked at some point, to see if they have changed? I know I don't. There's just not enough time in the day.
So it is a game where there doesn't seem to be room for a stumble. That is scary.
So very wonderful to have met you Bernard (spelled Bernard)!!!
Wonderful post. I look forward to any review you do. Any post for that matter.
Keep up the great work!
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