Social Networking: A New Tool to Engage the Clinical Community Is your profile complete on LinkedIn? How many friends does your organization have on Facebook? Do you know what Angie’s list thinks of your hospital? If not, you may be missing the “groundswell” a term coined by Forrester researchers Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. In their book Groundswell, Li and Bernoff review the technology underpinning social networking and explore how it can be used to connect with customers, better develop service offerings, and further relationships with clients. These social networking sites are replacing the mainstream media as sources of information, particularly those events that are below the threshold needed to prompt a news organization to dispatch a reporter or camera crew. Nevertheless, this information spreads out among a community and can, on rare occasions, go viral, thereby spreading rapidly among large numbers of people. Such events can be harmful to reputations and the bottom line. In this session attendees will: • Review the several ways to engage in social networking. • Learn about the role social networking plays in healthcare consumerism. • Explore the steps that can be taken to manage the “groundswell” for the benefit of an organization. (Javascript is required to view Mediasite content)