A recent conversation with the Pharmaco head of all things ‘e’ revealed:
“We are concentrating on getting our web sites up and working before we branch into Social Media – although we are using things like wiki’s internally.”
Such a position seems encouraging and eminently sensible – wouldn’t you say?
However, such thinking begs certain other questions:
- How do you know that you are optimising your Web 1.0?
- What thinking connects your Web 1.0 initiatives to your Web 2.0 strategy?
- Will your internal use of Web 2.0 provide constructive insights for use on a broader external front?
This last question was particularly pertinent given the executive’s comment that he and his colleagues had realised that “90% of the challenges presented by Social Media were to internal structure, management and culture”.
Is our Web 1.0 Strategy on Track?
Who is going to tell you if your Web 1.0 deployment is ‘de rigour’?
Thinking Pharma checked out the web site mentioned by the Pharmaco’s executive.
Great production values, nice layout, good use of ‘white space’ to create that uncluttered look & feel.
The use of text had been kept to a minimum and the code of language utilised was acceptable to an intelligent lay reader although perhaps not for the reading age of ten normally accepted as the common denominator.
The type of questions a patient receiving this drug would ask were reflected to a degree and there had clearly been an attempt to consider the patients point of view.
However, as a basis for further Social Media initiatives:
- The web site utilised a ‘telling’ style – as opposed to a ‘we know that you are thinking in this way – this is what will be on your mind’
- The opportunity to explain treatment and the actions of the prescribed drug were squandered
- The animation used to explain the condition was clumsy and not that informative and was accompanied by a ‘science fiction’ sound track that detracted more than it added – what was wrong with a voice over?
- (There is plenty more that could be said – but that is not the point)
Would a patient revisit the site?
Would a patient tell carers or fellow sufferers that this was a useful resource?
Had interactivity or media choice been used to add value?
Would a patient feel in anyway empowered having visited the site?
Did the web site illustrate an understanding of the opportunities presented by Web 1.0 let alone create some sort of platform for Web 2.0?
Thinking Pharma – Thinks Not.
The Internal Use of Web 2.0
Without any knowledge of what this particular Pharmaco is doing with Web 2.0 comment is difficult.
Clearly wikis and the like provide opportunities to test technology and to some extent the non-technical challenges.
However, in Thinking Pharma’s experience the concept of a ‘Rolling Pilot’ operating outside of the business allows the most risk averse and manageable approach to experimenting with the challenges of Web 2.0.
In a rolling pilot scenario:
- The many stakeholders that need to be engaged in a 2.0 strategy can be managed appropriately - stakeholders can be added to the mix and their particular issues accommodated
- The momentum and mass of organisational entities can be dealt with in a managed way
- The organisational change implications of Web 2.0 can be identified, planned and tested without fear of ‘getting it wrong’ – the frontiers can be tested
A Rolling Pilot creates a laboratory environment that can be exposed to real world challenges in a managed way.
Web 1.0 and 2.0
Web 1.0 can provide an exceptional opportunity to create a platform for future Web 2.0 engagement.
‘Brochureware Web Sites’ do not a platform make.
Having a few internal personnel ‘play’ with Web 2.0 is not laying a foundation for a broader Web 2.0 engagement.
Planning, experimenting, developing a strategy in an environment that allows for experimentation and testing is undoubtedly a way for Pharma to progress into the world of Social Media.
But, to do so without perspective could be viewed as dangerously naïve?
(Tomorrow’s Post: Rethinking Healthcare - The US Challenge)
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