Putting Facebook to Work
I put out a call to some "early adopters" of Facebook here at Merion Publications to ask how the social networking tool helps them do their jobs. Some recent examples:
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Through the Facebook page for one of our company's nursing publications, a wound-care nurse connected with one of the magazine's senior editors. The nurse is launching her own social networking Web site in the fall and asked our editor to be a guest commentator. The nurse expects many visitors to her site to be Facebook members with shared interest in the content covered by ADVANCE. Aside from the exposure for the editor, it's likely that the collaboration will attract new subscribers to the magazine.
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Another editor, who heads up ADVANCE's magazine for physician assistants, started a dialogue with a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter, who was working on an article series on under- and uninsured patients in Pennsylvania. The reporter asked for possible contacts; the editor responded by utilizing his magazine's Facebook page to send a message to fans of ADVANCE in the Philadelphia area. The message provided the reporter's request and contact information. The reporter heard from a few sources among the ADVANCE fans and included them in his coverage, thus providing exposure for PAs in a major metropolitan newspaper...and paving the way for possible future coverage for the field.
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I also saw a "wall" posting on the nursing publication's Facebook page. The post noted that a university nurse researcher was seeking RNs with specified disabilities to participate in a study designed to measure work instability. The post explained that participants would be asked to complete several questionnaires (15-minute time commitment) and that no identifying information would be disclosed. The researcher left her direct e-mail and phone contact information on the wall as a way of connecting with our readers.
We're still learning from one another within our internal social network. But once one magazine succeeds with an approach to connecting with its readers, others are sure to follow -- often with innovative twists that further leverage the technology.