How (and why) social media is impacting healthcare providers

As online communities for medical information sharing have evolved to gain more credibility among healthcare practitioners, more than half of physicians report frequently or occasionally changing their perception of a treatment after viewing content on social media, according to a new joint survey from Sermo and LiveWorld.

Survey methods and key findings

For the survey, researchers from Sermo and LiveWorld surveyed U.S.-based physicians and pharma marketers in December 2022. Among the 206 physicians who responded to the survey, 53% were associated with group practices, 37% were employees of hospitals, academic institutions, or hospital systems, and 9% were solo practitioners.

Meanwhile, the 50 pharma marketers who responded to the survey were from pharmaceutical firms...