If you have spent any amount of time swimming around in the social media ocean, I’m pretty sure you have heard of at least one of these guys. Robert Scoble is the popular blogger and new media personality who writes at Scobleizer and was recently brought on board at Fast Company. Gary V is most notably known for his innovative promotion/review of wine over at Wine Library TV.

Last night I headed over to the event where these two were hosting an event for all DC social media lovers.

I got to say hi to great buddies of mine including Alex Rampy, James Walker, Ryan Moede, Jill Foster, Leslie Bradshaw and Jesse Thomas.

Lots of new faces as well. Robert and Gary are cool people and I’m glad they were able to make it to the city to bring together the DC socialites!

Here is a video put together of the event from the good people over at DC Piazza:

For more videos on the event check out the rest of the site here.

So here we have the latest definition of Health 2.0, I’m pretty satisfied about this latest iteration from Dr. Ted Eytan:

Health 2.0 is participatory healthcare. Enabled by information, software, and community that we collect or create, we the patients can be effective partners in our own healthcare, and we the people can participate in reshaping the health system itself.

I weighed in on the definition in the comments section mentioning that the three words that i was happy to see in this definition were: participation, information and community.

I’m sure it will change as we explore this field more but I just wanted to share the latest

Do you have anything you would add to the definition of Health 2.0?

I was recently invited to speak on a webinar panel with distinguished leaders from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Howard University on getting tested for HIV. The main purpose of the program is to “to heighten awareness and understanding of HIV testing” and encourage this information to be shared throughout the blogosphere.

If you are at all interested in the prevention and elimination of HIV/AIDS, please join us on Tuesday to learn more.

We will be focusing on these questions during the webinar:

• Why should we care about HIV testing?
• Who should get tested for HIV?
• What happens when someone goes to get an HIV test?
• What are some of the reasons people don’t get tested for HIV?
• What are messages about HIV testing we can share with our blog readers?

Please spread the word with the invite here - also check out the main website for more promotional materials. One of the things I mentioned in the last post was about how important it is for us to get a grasp on these new social technologies to use in aiding in the healthy welfare of our society. This session will give some insight into that.

Do you know?

Yesterday morning, I had the great opportunity to attend the State of the Art of New Media in Health Care: Harnessing the Power of Digital Communication and Social Networking Tools conference held at the Newseum in downtown Washington, DC. The event was put on by Amplify Public Affairs, a “next generation in public affairs” firm integrating new media and traditional communications. Now of course the theme of this meeting is right up the alley of what gets covered on Pulse and Signal, so I was definitely happy to be able to attend. The question of how is new media affecting the health care world is popping up more and more, especially with the advent of Google Health, Microsoft’s Health Vault and the various online health social networks. I was eager to hear exactly what the panelists would be talking about - hopefully not just about their companies but to add some real thought to this growing landscape. Here were the people that spoke on the panel (in order of speaking):

» Elisabeth Goodridge, US News & World Report

» Joel Selzer, Ozmosis

» Matt Koll, Revolution Health

» Christopher Fleming, Health Affairs blog

» Ed Fishel, University of Maryland, News Bureau

Below I will touch upon some notes I took while listening to each presenter:

Elisabeth touched on a few items that showed how US News & World Report evolved from just a print publication to one that has integrated several elements of digital media including a list of affiliated bloggers, video, shareable articles and an upcoming widget library with embeddable content. I think one of the last times that I took a good hard look at what the publication could offer, it was when I was selecting colleges to attend. They also have a list of Best Hospitals that is very useful.

Joel has created a very interesting social networking platform for physicians, these include licensed MDs and DOs. A few reasons in which Joel created Ozmosis was because of the steadily increasing patient load for doctors (less time for them to interact with the patient), physicians having little time to find the answers for detailed patient questions and the fact that many physicians were turning to the Internet to locate information - trusted information is the top priority.

Matt spoke about how Revolution Health is transforming how social media is used in the consumer healthcare world. They also own CarePages and HealthTalk - both being focused on community health support. I felt that there was heavy discussion on advertising and business models, so I’m assuming that is where the organization is at this point in their growth. I’m looking forward to see what else comes from Revolution Health in the future.

Christopher also spoke from a once print only publication point of view. The Health Affairs journal, which recently celebrated its 25th year of being in print, has taken steps to embrace social media within its content production. The journal’s blog includes staff and guest bloggers. The staff members generally write about articles already printed in the journal while the guest bloggers create shorter, more advocacy based articles that usually correlate to a health policy issue. As the blog began expanding policy discussions to different areas, it helped to attract readers to the actual journal material. Currently, Chris and the Health Affairs team are looking to increase staff to assist in the growing and maintenance of the blog.

Finally, Ed touched on the changes involved in moving from old media and journalism to adopting new methods of disseminating news and information. I think that this will be an ongoing discussion (and struggle) for some time. Many people still do not see the value of this change in the media landscape but it’s good to know that there are a handful of people in certain professions willing to lead the charge.

Overall, I had a great time and picked up on a few thoughts regarding what exactly might need to be done regarding health communication efforts. It was nice hearing the various voices from different industries speak on what they are accomplishing - I really think that the aspects of Health 2.0 that were presented will be one of many to shape the way we stay healthy.

Last week was a great occasion for me because I got to meet one of the people that I hold in very high regard, the wonderful Nedra Weinreich! As a little background on Nedra, she has been involved in social marketing communications for over 10 years now with her own firm Weinreich Communications out in Los Angeles, CA. I have been a huge fan of Nedra’s ever since i began reading her Spare Change blog and learning more about social marketing.

I organized a meeting with Nedra since she was going to be in the Washington DC area for her Social Marketing University seminar that she is teaching. You can imagine how thrilled I was when I found out she wanted to meet up! Since she wanted to meet with some local bloggers, we decided to set up a Facebook page for the event to get the word out. We had some great people in attendance including Qui, James, the DC Social Butterfly, Tambra Stevenson of Creative Cause/Postcards for Katrina and even my colleague from NMS, Sam Huxley.

Apart from getting to know each other over appetizers and drinks, we delved into discussion about social marketing and creating changes in our community. The evening went extremely well and I couldn’t have asked for a better “real life” interaction with one of the greats!

I really love the folks over at Common Craft! I was over at the Creative Connects blog and saw this video explaining what social media is through creative storytelling. A while ago, I wrote about how Common Craft helped people understand Twitter - they are just awesome!

Notice the story is about people…that is what it’s all about.

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

I had the wonderful opportunity to be interviewed by a great blogger writing on the effectiveness of social marketing. Social Butterfly asked me some questions that got me thinking about what inspirations me and motivates me to continue writing my own blog and making changes in our world.

Before I get too sappy, I just wanted to mention that the community that I have come to be a part of in the blogosphere has really added value to my life and my way of thinking. Here is my interview!

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Well, you can! Andre and others will be attending HealthCamp MD in Owings, Maryland on Saturday, June 14, 2008. HealthCamp MD is being hosted by Mark Scrimshire at EKIVE. To learn more about the event, check out its wiki here. Sign up now while delegate and sponsorship spots are still available.

I recently got the opportunity to meet Andre through a Social Marketing Meetup he planned in Washington D.C. with Nedra Weinreich of the blog Spare Change. Thus, I nominated him for this week’s Blogger Neighborhood, as he too values both online and offline exchange. Enjoy!

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Blog Name: Pulse and Signal

Blog Topics: Health Communication, Health Education, Social Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Behavior

About the Author: Andre Blackman graduated with a degree in Public and Community Health in 2005 but has had a passion for science/technology ever since he could remember. He loves to meet new, interesting people and think about ways to make the world just a little better. He is a firm believer in the power of people coming together for a common good and is interested in using social technologies to improve the health of others through better health communications. I use Twitter a lot (follow me @mindofandre).

If you could live on any street, what would that street be named and why?

Changemaker Lane, I want to live on a street that continually reminds me of what I should have done that day as I leave and as I come home.

Who would be your dream real-life neighbor?

I have a few but at the moment, Tiger Woods. He is focused, a family man and he runs an awesome foundation that I hope to emulate.

What first prompted you to blog?

After nearly 2 years of reading blogs and thinking about both health and technology, I decided to take the leap and start writing those thoughts down. Not too long into the blogging, I started making great friends through online communication tools and that continued to fuel my excitement for blogging!

If you customized your own license plate, what would it say and why?

URWRLD - in this day and age more than ever people have the opportunities to fulfill their dreams and achieve their personal goals…it’s your world.

What would you gift to a new neighbor as the perfect welcoming gift?

A REAL list of best places to eat and attractions in the town/city to visit. You know the corporate ones lie sometimes!

What’s your favorite blog post and why?

It would probably be when I wrote “The Importance of Sleep in the Wired Generation.” This was one of the first posts I wrote that got decent attention and even the Sleep Foundation chimed in on the comments section. It was important to me because of what I saw happening to a couple people I knew (including myself!) when trying to keep up with all the social media buzz and Web events. You barely get sleep! And lack of sleep has some detrimental effects.

What’s one lesson you’ve learned from blogging?

The importance of interacting with others - the more you comment and make genuine relationships with others, the more you get back, probably even more so.

Past Blogger Neighbors Include:

• Osocio @ Osocio, nominated by SocialButterfly
• Beth Kanter @ Beth’s Blog, nominated by SocialButterfly
• Beth Dunn @ Small Dots, nominated by Beth Kanter
• Len Edgerly @ LenEdgerly.com, nominated by Beth Dunn
• Stacey Monk @ Epic Change, nominated by the Twitter-verse
• Jason Dick @ A Small Change, nominated by Stacey Monk
• Roger Carr @ Everyday Giving, nominated by Jason Dick
• …and now Andre Blackman, nominated by SocialButterfly

This continuous weekly series highlights different blogs and their respective bloggers in the blogosphere neighborhood. Following the great Mr. Rogers, who tells us to ‘Get to know your neighbor,’ this series introduces us to our blogger neighbors, making for a more unified, collaborative voice for the social sector. Like to nominate someone or be featured yourself? Contact me @ socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com.

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Thanks again SocialButterfly!

Last week I came across an interesting organization called the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, which deals with connecting science and communications for the betterment of consumer health. According to the Foundation’s website:

IFIC’s purpose is to bridge the gap between science and communications by collecting and disseminating scientific information on food safety, nutrition and health and by working with an extensive roster of scientific experts and through partnerships to help translate research into understandable and useful information for opinion leaders and ultimately, consumers.

Last week, IFIC had a webcast going over the findings from their recent 3rd Annual IFIC Foundation Food & Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes Toward Food & Health. You can see the re-broadcast of the webcast here.

I was very happy that I found out about this event because it really opened my eyes up to consumer thoughts on what they were eating. I took a Consumer Behavior class in college while getting my Public Health degree and I learned a ton about what influences our decisions on what we put in our mouths. In an a society where some thing might be good for you one month and detrimental to your health in another, it’s important to look at these trends.

In the health communications world, it is vital to understand what “clicks” with target audiences.  One of the points covered during the webinar was the Food Pyramid - where have YOU seen the MyPyramid chart?

Now what do these results tell you? Especially the last place people have seen it…right, they haven’t. That means we have to do a better job of getting this information out to the general public.  In mid 2005, the new MyPyramid.gov website was launched with intentions to upgrade the aging symbol of what we should eat. Unfortunately, since then, it doesn’t appear that the website has done much in the way of changing minds on nutrition. A great point was made by Andy Carvin on this issue soon after the launching of the website.

However, other messages are becoming relatively clear for many Americans. See below for what I mean:

Maybe we need to take another look at where people are seeing their health information? Those MyPyramid.gov survey results have me thinking about not only the importance of relevant health communications but another interest of mine, in closing the digital divide. What’s the point in having all of these web technologies if the people who need it, don’t get it? Literally and figuratively…

To see more of the slides from the IFIC Foundation Webcast as well as past surveys, check out the website.