The World Wide Web is the most disruptive technology of the modern era and allied to this, social media (SoMe), made possible by the introduction of Web 2.0, has created a new communication paradigm. Few, if any, anticipated the influence that SoMe would have on society and industry as a whole, but judging by the market capitalizations of companies like Facebook ($492.6B), Twitter ($11.91B) and Snapchat ($15.94B), and the fact that the average American spends about two hours per day using SoMe, 1 governments, companies and various organizations are being forced to adapt new communications strategies to harness the power and broad reach of this culture-changing phenomenon. The healthcare space is steadily grappling with ways to effectively employ SoMe as means for patient communication, conducting research, marketing to consumers, and providing accurate and up-to-date health and wellness education, raising a host of ethical concerns. 2 In addition to the
of a surgeon/scientist-in-training on a long journey. Current stop: Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Resident | Scientist | Biotech Startup Founder | Consultant