"The Clinical Network, uses the benefits of Social Media to connect clinical professionals, from all disciplines, together in one community..."

Case studies

 

Client: NHS West Kent PCT

Project Name: Clinical Network

We were asked by West Kent PCT to develop an innovative new website called the Clinical Network, using the benefits of Social Media to connect clinical professionals, from all disciplines, together in one community and helping them join the debate about the future of healthcare services in West Kent.

The Clinical Network is designed to help its members:

• Directly influence commissioning and investment decisions;
• Strengthen clinical leadership, network and share information, easily and accessibly, with like-minded professionals;
• Air views and opinions individually and collectively

Exactly what is it and what does it do?

The Clinical Network is designed to give clinicians, service managers and providers more say and involvement. Key features include:

Profiles and Friends
Create your own dynamic on-line profile, which enables other colleagues on the network to see your clinical specialism and your current personal network of colleagues. Invite colleagues you know to become your “friends” and find other clinicians you would like to network with and add them to your professional network.

Blogs
Post your own news via on-line diaries, or blogs, under the topic of your choice and subscribe and comment on other colleagues blogs, and get notifications by email, such as when new blog entries are posted.

Forums
Communicate regularly and share ideas by posting to discussion forums, such as news on your latest research, and comment on forum posts from other clinicians.

Events
Invite colleagues to forthcoming events, keep track of invited guests and request RSVP’s to invites.

Groups
Create your own specialist groups or subscribe to other clinicians groups. Then invite new members to join and start discussions around particular topics.

Live Messaging, Chat Rooms and Updates
Chat live with clinicians you are currently “friends” with on the network and write brief “MSN” style text updates to inform others of your latest activity on the Clinical Network.

Clinical Network Mail
Stay in touch with colleagues by sending and receiving personal emails to individuals or groups of clinicians who are members of the Clinical Network.

Polls
Create your own opinion polls to get immediate feedback from Clinical Network members on important clinical issues.

Videos
Increase the impact of your messages to fellow clinicians by uploading your own videos, or linking to relevant videos on YouTube.

Files
Create, manage and share any type of document (e.g. Word, PDF, PowerPoint, videos, photos) to a wide or selected audience.

Why Social Media?
Over the past few years, social media has exploded into the mainstream. 
Consumer destination sites like YouTube and Facebook are some of the largest sites online, Fortune 500 brands are increasing their social marketing spend at skyrocketing rates, retailers are leveraging the power of social commerce, and nearly every media site online is filled with social tools and content. 
What do we mean, exactly, by social media?  We see three primary elements of the social media experience as applied to (integrated with) a destination website:-

User-Enhanced Content
Allowing users to enhance your original article and product content with comments, ratings, reviews and recommendations.  User-enhanced content enables powerful social discovery features and makes your entire site socially relevant. 

User-Generated Content
 Allowing users to generate, or contribute, net-new pieces of content to your site – blogs, photos, videos, and forum posts that create valuable content resources in addition to your existing article or product content.

Social Networking
Enabling users to interact with the site and each other through vibrant user profiles, groups, messages, points, leaderboards and a range of other features.  As the cornerstone of the user experience, social networking tools anchor your site’s social network by turning a group of users into a true community.

If you would like to find out how we can develop your own Social Network or Intranet for your business or organisation, please contact us.

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