Rise of Opinion leaders
I stumbled across the Pharma 2.0 blog recently after getting a Google News alert about a posting there.Bunny's post is about the influence that certain key people (patient opinion leaders) have on others. In her post, she explains
These are individuals who are well-versed on their disease and are influencing thousands of others with their writing. I’m not saying that KOL’s (Key Opinion Leaders, usually refers to physicians) are on the wane, but industry should start paying more attention to this new generation of influencer.She lists several well-known bloggers and me. I can't really think of myself as in the same league as the rest, so I'm grateful for the compliment.
I have to agree with her. For someone living with a chronic disease I'm much more influenced by what I learn from friends online and in real life. That's because their experiences are based on the tricks they've learned from managing this irritating condition.
Doctors and CDEs are important, however unless they also have diabetes they can only advise and guide based on the experience they've had in dealing with hundreds of patients and in their study and reading. I don't trivialize any of this, but living with the disease does give an empathy and connection that can't always be appreciated.
Labels: blogger, influence, opinion
posted by Bernard @ 9:27 PM
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