Pharmas Twitter-pated!
Remember in the Disney classic Bambi when Owl describes all of the animals falling in love in the spring as being twitterpated? Well, its spring (or nearly so, for many of us) and it looks like pharma is falling in love with Twitter.
If you havent heard of Twitter (or have, but havent bothered to check it out yet) Wikipedia defines it as:
"a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetdeck, Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon and Feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees."
Twitter, although born primarily for personal communication, has gotten many a marketer all a-flutter over the potential of connecting with customers and building what some are calling the ultimate channel for word of mouth. An adventurous (and growing) lot interested in pharma are dipping their big toes in and testing the Twitter waters.
Like with most new things, however, some are tackling Twitter with more gusto than others. Heres who we would argue are the top 20 pharma-oriented twitterers at the moment (based on number of followers):
1 Steve Woodruff: 2117 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/swoodruff
Bio/self-described interests: Pharma Consultant. Marketer. Entrepreneur. Connector. Idea Communicator.
Example tweet: Why I hate pharma mega-mergers. http://ow.ly/Kbb
Steve, whos worked as a consultant the past three years after more than a decade with a device company, says the number of people interested in pharma that are blogging and using social media has really burgeoned over the past 6-9 months. Steve says hes live-blogged and live-Twittered at the past two pharma conferences hes attended and is encouraged by the interest hes seen developing in Twitter.
Ive been able to share with people the real immediacy and real communication that Twitter facilitates, Steve says. And when people see Twitter responses go back in forth in real time, suddenly the light goes on. But new users have to understand that you cant just throw your message out there; its got to be a dialog. It connects people who wouldnt have otherwise and is a wonderful way to build up valuable contacts. Im a solo entrepreneur and the people on Twitter are my office mates. Its great to see a critical mass of pharma people building.
2 Jonathan Richman: 1854 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/jonmrich
Bio/self-described interests: Former pharma guy now preaching e-marketing to every healthcare company thatll listen
Example tweet: Everyone's upset that RealAge leads to emails from pharma cos. But 38% of ppl want to learn about pharma drugs this way. http://bit.ly/x4x0O
Jon equates Twitter to a big coffee shop or cocktail party, where you can mingle and meet with people, exchanging information and building contacts. The growing numbers of pharma-oriented Twitterers are posting a lot of good information and getting involved in a lot of good conversations, Jon says.
I go there to make sure Im not missing anything and to share, too, he says. Once you have that trusted group, you can seek out information and input on problems youre trying to solve. The number of quality responses you get and how quickly they come in really surpasses anything Ive used before. The folks on Twitter tend to be early adopters and thought leaders who are ahead of the curve on most things, so its a great chance to really learn a lot and get time with people you wouldnt ordinarily get to interact with.
3- Sally Church: 1387 followers
Her Twitter feed: twitter.com/MaverickNY
Bio/self-described interests: Icarus Consultants, Pharma, Biotech, Marketing Strategy, Competitive Intelligence, Science, Market Research, Oncology, Cancer, Hematology
Example tweet: Would big Pharma be more palatable and successful if it went back to scientists as CEO's not businessmen? Has it lost its way?
Sally says she uses Twitter to share information that relates to her areas of interest and then can look to who reads and responds as new potential contacts. Shes even gotten new clients and work assignments through Twitter, she says.
Its a great tool to find others who are interested in your areas of focus, Sally says. People share the information you post and it disseminates in ripples and you end up connecting with people youd never have encountered any other way. Thats a really cool thing. Youre not only sharing information, but sharing your pharma network.
Recently, Sally live-Twittered at 2 eyeforpharma conferences, the Global Business Intelligence Summit and the Oncology Summit.
4 Nat Brown: 1153 followers
Her Twitter feed: twitter.com/pharmacoach
Bio/self-described interests: Pharmaceutical marketing consultant and coach. Health 2.0 advocate.
Example tweet: Working on a Health 2.0 paper. Did you read or write an article that I should include as a reference? If so, let me know.
5 Shwen Gwee: 1115 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/shwen
Bio/self-described interests: Social Pharmer (Social Media in Pharma) | Founder and Host, Med 2.0 Blog & Podcast (med20.com)
Example tweet: Will b interesting to see if others follow - RT @nytimeshealth: Psychiatric Group Ends Industry-Sponsored Seminars http://tinyurl.com/c6bu6l
6 Mark Senak (eyeonfda): 759 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/eyeonfda
Bio/self-described interests: Author of the blog Eye on FDA - www.eyeonfda.com
Example tweet: PhRMA Statement - White House Healthcare Summit Offers Opportunity for Input into Reform
7 Jane Chin: 736 followers
Her Twitter feed: twitter.com/janechin
Bio/self-described interests: Field-Medical-Scientific Healthcare Competitive Intelligence Microbusiness Entrepreneur CEO
Example tweet: Working with the sales team may be a double edged sword for MSL teams.
8 - John Mack: 648 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/pharmaguy
Bio/self-described interests: Pharma Pundit & Publisher of Pharma Marketing News
Example tweet: DTC Ad Spending Decreased 18% in 2008. Worse Than Expected! See http://tinyurl.com/bfmcnv
9 Ian Chamberlain: 614 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/thecortex
Bio/self-described interests: sales trainer, speaker and networker for the Med & pharma' industry. Brit living in France.
Example tweet: Pfizer's pancreatic cancer drug so good they stop the trial and give it to the "placebo" group http://tinyurl.com/bhszlj
10 Reed Smith: 557 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/reedsmith
Bio/self-described interests: Creative Marketeer, Healthcare 2.0, Hospital Marketing Guy
Example tweet: Most healthcare buyers are female and 25-55... does it make sense to switch efforts to SM based on SM usage by this group? #hcmktg
11 Marc Monseau (JNJCOMM): 548 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/JNJComm
Bio/self-described interests: I work at Johnson & Johnson and will Tweet about topics that I'm familiar with and that I write about on our blog, JNJBTW.
Example tweet: Noticed Fortune just published its list of Most Admired Companies, including Johnson & Johnson http://tinyurl.com/b94md7
12 Craig DeLarge: 455 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/cadelarge
Bio/self-described interests: Healthcare Marketing Strategist, Intrapreneur, Design Manager, Career Coach
Example tweet: Pilot study shows that online diabetes management works /Pharma 2.0/ - The Center for Connected Health, ... http://tinyurl.com/chak38
13 Brad Pendergraph: 375 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/bradatpharma
Bio/self-described interests: I work for a Novartis Pharmaceuticals here in East Hanover, NJ. I'm not an official representative, just an employee trying to help.
Example tweet: The question should not be "Do we stop patients talking?", IMHO, it should be "How do we facilitate the talks, and contribute meaningfully?"
14 Arthur Alston: 364 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/arthur_alston
Bio/self-described interests: By day: MD & MBA oncology marketeer for big pharma - Roche.
Example tweet: And so a giant is created. Via @Roche_com: Roche completes tender offer for Genentech http://tinyurl.com/ddmh2j
15 Manhattan Research: 304 followers
Their Twitter feed: twitter.com/manhattanresear
Bio/self-decribed interests: Manhattan Research is a leading market research and advisory firm for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies
Example tweet: Three Ways for Pharma Product Sites to Improve Visitor Satisfaction and Retain Consumers ~ http://tinyurl.com/d8wluq
16 Fabio Gratton: 243 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/skypen
Bio/self-described interests: Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer of Ignite Health
Example tweet: LAST CHANCE TO CAST YOUR VOTE: Your thoughts on a universal FDA Adverse Event widget for all pharma websites. http://twtpoll.com/r/crvbz1
17 eyeforpharma: 225 followers
Their Twitter feed: twitter.com/eyeforpharma
Bio/self-described interests: eyeforpharma exists to assist the pharma industry in creating real patient value, care and service
Example tweet: Patient Adherence - the last 5 years. Actually, changes are more than skin deep. http://bit.ly/WYPny
18 Christiane Truelove: 202 followers
Her Twitter feed: twitter.com/ChristianeTrue
Bio/self-described interests: Editor-in-chief of Med Ad News and R&D Directions
Example tweet: Pharma gets stuck in minutiae, makes excuses, justifies but that doesn't work. Needs to communicate forward.
19 Wendy Blackburn: 196 followers
Her Twitter feed: twitter.com/WendyBlackburn
Bio/self-described interests: blogger, digital marketer, focused on pharma. VP@Intouch Solutions digital marketing agency
Example tweet: FDA will never address this peeps. theyve never addressed online channel at all except to say same rules apply #epharma
20 Jim Edwards: 184 followers
His Twitter feed: twitter.com/jim_edwards
Bio/self-described interests: Writer for Brandweek and BNET
Example tweet: Pfizer's Kindler Got $4.2 Million Pay Raise, Despite What Business Press Says: To hear the business press tell i http://tinyurl.com/bbg66w
After running down all of these pharma Twitter pioneers, Im somewhat embarrassed to say I have a Twitter account ( twitter.com/lroner), but have only posted a few tweets. I do tend to be a bit of a wall flower and want to fully understand new technologies before diving in (and I must admit that I fear it could eat a tremendous amount of time!). I am, however, following a growing number of pharma-oriented Twitterers and staying quiet is proving more difficult by the day.
My younger (almost a full generation so ughh!) colleagues at eyeforpharma definitely arent taking my measured approach, and have jumped right in. And eyeforpharma itself has launched its own account at twitter.com/eyeforpharma, which as of this writing sports 225 followers, making us #17 on this list. Check us out, and be sure to let us know if weve missed out on your own Twitter adventures. Well definitely update the list if weve overlooked anyone we should have mentioned.