Welcome to Health Care Social Media Review #57.

Warhol's Heinz 57 works insisted upon being included as part of the visual theme for the current edition. And of course a more up-to-date artistic appropriation of the meaning of ketchup may be found in the work of Garrison Keillor, on A Prairie Home Companion — one of the show's "sponsors" is the Ketchup Advisory Board, which touts the benefits of ketchup's "natural mellowing agents." Both Warhol and Keillor latched on to ketchup to make very different points — Warhol, to highlight the commodification of our existence by rendering the mundane with the care ordinarily reserved for the transcendent; Keillor, to give us an odd but warm feeling inside.

What do these opposing treatments of ketchup have to teach us about health care social media? Gather round as we explore recent #hcsm posts from the blogosphere and see if you can't answer that yourself by the time you finish reading this post.

Facebook ran an A/B test. Get out the torches and pitchforks! Shel Holtz injects a note of sanity into the discussion of Facebook's alleged manipulation of user emotions.

"Social Media Likes Health Care" — See this summary of a recent PWC report.

Is online psychotherapy a good thing? Check out this NPR post and see.

Many folks have been thinking about the FDA guidelines on social media; here's an interview on the FDA guidelines from Japan, where folks are thinking about their effects on marketing directed to the US. (Note to self: condiment-based snack foods seem to be big in Japan. Not as many folks in the US have been thinking about that, I bet.)

Lauren Still asks some of the key questions about the Google, Samsung and Apple forays into health and personal trackers. Joe Kvedar shares his wish list for Apple's HealthKit. Check out the discussion in the comments — e.g. one suggestion that companies like Apple should make money on health data products and services only if they improve health. The ultimate in value based payment!

Fletcher Allen Health Care has its share of healthy tomato recipes on line, but it bears being called out this week because its social media strategist, Alexandra Tursi, spoke with Janet Kennedy about all things HCSM. Check out the podcast at Get Social Health.   

Bryan Vartabedian muses on the question of what gets HCSM writers readers.

At the entry level, medical practices not yet on Twitter should consider: Should Your Practice Have a Twitter Account?  And hospitals should think about recycling content on Slideshare.

New York City is using Yelp reviews to help identify unreported outbreaks of food-borne illness and provide appropriate interventions. (Macaroni and cheese spring rolls? Really? Maybe they'd be better with ketchup.)

Finally: A shout out to the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media (disclosure: I'm on the Center's external advisroy board) for continuing the tradition of offering a limited number of patient/caregiver scholarships to the Center's annual conference in beautiful Rochester, Minnesota. It's an essay contest, folks, and entries are due August 9. 

Thanks for joining us for this edition of Health Care Social Media Review. Check out the home page to learn more about this blog carnival.

I'll leave you with an added bonus bit: Andy Warhol enjoying a hamburger with some Heinz Ketchup.

And now the connection between ketchup and health care social media is clear, no?

David Harlow
The Harlow Group LLC
Health Care Law and Consulting