8.14.09 | Chris Seper

Hospitals still yet to get a following on Twitter?

There are no Ashton Kutcher’s in health care, according to a review of the popularity of hospitals on Twitter. Here’s a list of the 20 most followed hospitals.

Mayo Clinic – @mayoclinic – [6,626]
Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center – @Aurora_Health – [4,659]
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – @StJude - [3,442]
Children’s National Medical Center – @childrenshealth – [3,030]
Scripps Memorial Hospital – @ScrippsHealth – [2,947]
Children’s Medical Center Dallas – @ChildrensTheOne – [2,816]
Henry Ford Hospital – @HenryFordNews -[2,689]
University of Maryland Medical Center – @ummc - [2,596]
UNC Health Care – @UNC_Health_Care – [2,582]
Seattle Children’s Hospital – @seattlechildren – [2,551]
University of Michigan Health System – @UMHealthSystem – [2,526]
Sherman Health – @ShermanHealth – [2,472]
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics – @uwhealth – [2,446]
Cleveland Clinic CME – @cleveclinic_cme – [2,440]
DMC Detroit Medical Center – @DMC_heals – [2,270]
Ohio State University Hospital – @OSUMC – [2,164]
Lifebridge Health – @LBHealth – [2,064]
University of Tennessee Medical Center – @utmedicalcenter – [1,854]
Phoenix Children’s Hospital - @PhxChildrens - [1,800]
Mercy Health System – @mercyhealth – [1,760]

We’ve written quite a bit about how social media and an overall Web strategy are more and more important to hospitals. So it’s notable how little traction medical institutions have with Twitter. Dr. Ves Dimov points out that individual doctors have broader Twitter followings than many of the most popular hospitals. Med-blogger KevinMD has more Twitter followers than any hospital, and if Dimov were a hospital his followers would make him 15th on this list.

There are likely three reasons for the lack of traction. The first is content. Most hospitals, at this point, are using Twitter as they would an e-newsletter or an RSS feed to distribute press release headlines or promote sections of their own site.

The second reason is payoff. It’s clear now how a hospital Web site can attract patients, build a reputation and revenue, and attract employees. But it’s not clear how Twitter is best used. Maybe it’s for handing out hospital headlines, continuing medical education, an extension of jobs board or a better way to gather feedback on local construction projects.

Lastly, Twitter is social and personal — something that’s much easier for an individual doctor to become rather than an institution. Hospitals may be better served setting up accounts for high-profile doctors and managing those accounts, rather than trying to gain followers for an institution.

Chris Seper MedCity News

Chris Seper is the CEO and editor in chief at MedCity Media, which publishes MedCityNews.com. Reach him at chris@medcitynews.com.

more

Tags: electronic medical records, health IT, healthcare social media

Comments Post a comment

I created this top 20 list as a bit of fun. No one should take the numbers as a judgment on the value of the Social Media effort at a particular hospital. Quantity does not equal quality – this should be obvious to anyone living in this space. That said, a high number of followers would indicate that the hospital is doing something right.

The issue isn’t how many followers a hospital has – it’s the fact they are present in the Social Media space and ready to engage when someone on Twitter (or Facebook, etc.) needs help or has a question.

Comment by Ed Bennett — August 14, 2009 @ 3:53 pm

I think you miss the point when you say hospitals should encourage high-profile doctors to amass a following instead of focusing on institutional accounts. That’s a false dichotomy, as doing one doesn’t preclude the other.

We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made on the @mayoclinic account, as our number of followers has quadrupled in the last six months as we have become more interactive.

Look at the TV stations in the Cleveland market: @wkyc – 3883 followers; @fox8news 2,686; @19ActionNews 1,520; @WEWS 2,098. Only one of those would crack the top 5 hospitals, and one wouldn’t match the hospital numbers at all.

Comment by Lee Aase — August 14, 2009 @ 8:41 pm

Ed and Lee are right. I maintain @childrenshealth for Children’s National Medical Center, No. 4 on this list. You have to put the numbers in context — we are one of the most popular DC nonprofits on Twitter, and we look at the quality of our followers, not just the quantity. We’re reaching local and national media outlets, NIH and other government agencies, opinion leaders, and national leaders in health care, philanthropy, and advocacy. As a children’s hospital, we want to reach parents. Twitter is already connecting us with parenting media and “mommy bloggers,” providing valuable information to parents, and strengthening other important relationships.

Comment by Mark Miller — August 15, 2009 @ 10:27 am

There are two important perspectives this article did not address, first, Mack Collier (9,627 followers) points out in this article (http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2008/11/people_dont_want_to_connect_wi.html);
people want to connect with people, not brands. That is why it is easier for a physician (high-profile or otherwise) to connect with a patient. Ashton Kutcher and other celebs gather large numbers of followers because the person is the brand.

Second, it is not about the followers. Mack Collier with “only” 9,627 followers would probably offer assistance to any one of those people at the drop of a hat. I am connected to AK and he has never answered me back when I have a question.

I think you do a disservice by focusing on the number of followers that the institutions have, and only the number the institutions have. Look @mayoclinic with their 6,600 followers; Lee alone adds another 50%. If Lee is working on building a team that has followings like that, they make a serious impact… not by the number of followers they have, but by the number of people that they are connected to personally and can offer advice, help, direction, comfort, entertainment, etc.

Our customers want that level of service from the people at their hospital. The institutional twitter feeds that talk about curing cancer, stopping heart disease, and creating personalized medicine have value coming from the hospitals that are building the future of health care.

disclosure: I work for the Ohio State University Medical Center in social media.

Comment by Ryan Squire — August 17, 2009 @ 8:44 am

I think Ryan has hit upon a couple good points. Number of followers is only one measure – but it’s one people seem to pay close attention to.

Plus, it is easier for an individual rather than an institution to connect with people. But institutions can leverage those individuals to build brands. There are no either-or propositions. An institutional Twitter feed – though it still sounds like these Tweets are glorified RSS – can effectively distribute information.

But it also has its limits. How much more is that relationship between health system and patient amplified if there’s an OSU-branded doctor out there connecting with Tweeple? It’s in some ways an amplification of putting a doctor on a WebMD or NetWellness (OSU is on the latter): docs are distributing information in another way and making new bonds. They can do it better than institutions, and people are more likely to be drawn to docs that organizations.

Comment by Chris Seper — August 17, 2009 @ 12:10 pm