Thanks to their face-recognition software, Facebook knows what you look like. Kinda cool. Kinda creepy. Certainly interesting.
The software allows Facebook to recognize your face in pictures posted on their website. And not just pictures you post, but pictures that others post as well (worried about that candid picture your ex took of you in college? We’ll address that later).
The feature isn’t actually all that new. Facebook launched the software in the U.S. back in December 2010. Since then, they’ve slowly rolled it out in other countries. But rest assure, your face has probably been scanned at some point.
So what does all this face-remembering business mean? Well, it depends on who you are and why you use Facebook. Read Full Entry
News spread quickly of the release of British pharma social media guidance authored by The ABPI Pharmacovigilance Expert Network. US pharma marketers ooh’d and ahh’d with silent jealousy, for the ABPI has achieved what the FDA has been delaying. As a pharma marketer, I’d like to say thanks to the ABPI for courageously tackling this subject. Thank you for understanding that these guidelines are a helpful resource that will encourage pharma brands to confidently enter the social media space, thereby creating deeper relationships with their consumers.
The guidelines seek to clarify a point of apprehension for most pharmaceutical companies – the process for collecting and managing adverse events/product complaints as they arise in social media. They clarify this topic by dividing the management of AEs/PCs into two scenarios: those that are found on company-sponsored sites and those that are found on non-company sponsored sites. Read Full Entry
A colleague of mine spent a good week or two telling all of us here at GSW that we absolutely must read The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk. I took her up on that advice and have been so thankful (pun not originally intended) I did.
In the book, Vaynerchuk cites 11 excuses he hears from companies time and time again about why they’ve dismissed social media. Pharma has been quick to write off social media using several of the reasons he cites, but the final road block to social media bliss is usually Vaynerchuk’s ninth reason – “the legal issues are too thorny”. Increasingly our clients are realizing the value of the relationships enabled by social media but, alas, they do not proceed as result of direction from their legal department. Read Full Entry
We’ve been hearing about Facebook’s plans to change their policy regarding pharma Facbeook Pages since early April. Facebook has finally formally announced these changes to their clients last week. In an email to clients, Facebook announced that it will no longer allow admins to disable comment functionality on new pharma Pages; pharma pages that already have this feature disabled will have to accept commenting come Aug. 15th.
First of all, why did Facebook make these changes?
Let’s think about Facebook’s (and all of social media’s) purpose – to encourage social interactions among users. A brand Page that disables commenting negates the value that Facebook brings to its users every day. It’s not surprising that they’ve put their foot down and are forcing pharma to either get in the game or get off the field.
The pinch hit of the Facebook changes
For many pharma brands, the thought of engaging in two-way conversation with consumers is almost overwhelming; especially as direction regarding usage of social media from the FDA continues to be delayed. There’s one important note that Facebook included in their email which states that pharma Pages dedicated solely to a brand name prescription drug will still be entitled to disable commenting. This statement is why the game hasn’t changed. Facebook has graciously recognized that there are just some social conversations, digitally or traditionally, that pharma isn’t allowed host, in the same way that Google makes an exception to their paid search policy. Read Full Entry
