Pharma Bloggers Gotta Get Tweeting on Twitter!

I recently discovered Twitter -- a free social networking and micro-blogging service -- and admit that "I'm All a Twitter About Twitter."

Twitter ... allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (e.g. on a cell phone), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application. For SMS, four gateway numbers are currently available: short codes for the USA, Canada, and India, as well as a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.

Wikipedia

You can see my recent "tweets" in the Twitter blog widget in the right hand column. Here are some recent gems:

• Today's publication day for Pharma Marketing News -- see preview here: http://tinyurl.com/3ysvt3 less than a minute ago
• Got some pushback on my Lunesta ROI analysis -- we just don't have the real numbers I'm told! Does anybody have the numbers? about 17 hours ago
• @saranne03 "If Jack's in love, he's no judge of Jill's beauty." -- Ben Franklin. Could be applied to how FDA relates to drug industry. about 17 hours ago
• My Twitter pals agree. FDA is not keeping up with the times! But I must say that FDA can learn a lot more from Ben Franklin than H. Ford! about 20 hours ago
• FDA's Woodcock: "We must learn from Henry Ford" Wha! Let's see, wasn't Ford ANTI-REGULATORY? So last century any way!

Posting my tweets in this blog and over at Pharma Marketing Blog is an easy way to let my readers know what I am thinking about right now. You can also visit my Twitter page at twitter.com/pharmaguy. From there you can also see the tweets of my Twitter "pals," who are people I have chosen to be on that list. Currently, there are 26 people that I "follow" and there are 19 people following me. NO bloggers from the Pharma Blogosphere^TM, however, is a fellow tweeter.

Anthony Bianciella, VP of Marketing at MTI, who turned me on to Twitter, asked if I find it more valuable than standard blogging or more as an equal "partner" that enhances what you do?

My answer was this:

"Twitter can never replace my blog. But I'm finding it good for networking, getting leads on stories, passing along opportunities to people that follow me, promoting what I am doing, and keeping a record of my thoughts, which is important as you get older! I think it's cool that I can feed all my tweets to a widget on my blogs and web site as well as post the RSS feed to a special forum I set up: "Mack and His Twitter Pals!", which is already driving a lot of traffic to the forums site!

Viral Social Marketing at Its Best!
Eventually, Twitter will offer ad space just like ads found on Google search pages. The ads will be served based on keywords found in tweets. For example, imagine I posted this:

"Plan to call my doctor today about Zetia, Should I stop taking it?"

Lo and behold, when that person visits his/her Twitter page the next time, there's an ad for Zetia -- or better yet, Crestor! Not only on that page, but on the pages of that person's list of people!

You can only imagine what the limits for such viral social marketing are!

Join me at http://twitter.com/pharmaguy.

Centocor: First Pharma Company to Profile Employees on a Blog

Any one who knows me, knows that I have been championing the notion of pharmaceutical company employee blogging for a long time (see, for example, "A Primer on Pharma Employee Blogging") and more recently I have challenged Centocor to give employees a voice on their CNTO411 Blog (see "Centocor: Let Thy Employees Speak!").

Lo and Behold! Today marks the first employee profile on a drug company's public blog that I know of. See "A Conversation with Greg Keenan, M.D., Worldwide Medical Affairs Immunology Research."

Now that’s what I’m talking about! More profiles like this are bound to give us a better image of Centocor’s core values, which ultimately are based upon the views and values of its employees.

NEXT STEP: Try a more catchy title like "Centocor's Greg Keenan Cares About Patients and Also Likes Chinese Food and Wild Turkey." Uh, the bird, not the bourbon!

'Round the Sphere: The "R" Word

Several bloggers have picked up on the analysis by IMS, which indicated that Drug sales in the U.S. grew at their slowest pace since 1961 (see "Drug Sales in U.S. Grow at Slower Pace").

This, IMS says, is due to "cheaper copies of top-selling medicines [flooding] the market and U.S. regulators [approving] fewer new products."

Meanwhile, there seems to be a question if generic drugs are as good as brand name drugs (see "Are Generics Worse Than Brand-Name Drugs?" over at WSJ Health Blog). If generics are not competitive to brand name drugs, then market forces should be working in favor of the brand name drug industry.

Also, that remark about regulators approving fewer brand name drugs is deceptive: it could be that drug companies are submitting fewer NDAs for approval! Which leads me to ask over at Pharma Marketing Blog "Is the Pharma Industry in a Recession?" What do you think? Take the poll over there at the top of the right hand column.

Pharm Aid blog today asks: "Has Pharma Hit the Bottom?," which is a weird idea considering economists are just now agreeing the rest of the U.S. economy is in recession!

"In financial markets," says Pharm Aid, "you usually hit the bottom when the news is the worst. And the news can’t get much worse for pharma."

How's that? There was still GROWTH last year, but at a SLOWER pace. Recession, on the other hand, means DECLINE. And that's what I am asking. Will there be a decline in drug sales across the board?

Maybe not. But there could be decline in pharma advertising and marketing spending. Wouldn't that be worse? (Worse for me, anyway.)

Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there for discussion.

'Round the Sphere: Pharma Let Thy People Speak!

Pharmaceutical Exceutive Magazine's PharmExec Direct Marketing Edition -- not quite a blog, but close enough -- as well as other blogs in the Pharma Blogosphere^TM, have picked up on the CNTO411 story (see "Centocor Enters Blogosphere").

I was quoted in the article:

"As far as blogs go, CNTO411 is a small step for a blog, maybe a giant leap for pharma," Pharma Marketing Blog writer John Mack stated on his site. He told Pharm Exec on Tuesday that it might be a mistake to have the key authors of the J&J blogs be communications personnel and that if the company really wants to spark reader attention, then they should have scientists and researchers blogging.

Melissa Katz and Michael Parks of Centocor are getting a some feedback on the issue of employee blogging and they have responded -- somewhat -- to my suggestion that they allow Centocor's employees to have a voice on the blog.

So, with apologies to the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 8:1, I offer this:

"And the Blogosphere spake unto Katz and Parks, go unto Centocor's President, and say unto him, thus saith the Blogosphere, Let our employees speak, that they may serve you."

I also composed a new Pharma Blogosphere Spirtual, which you can find on Pharma Marketing Blog: Centocor: Let Thy Employees Speak!