Photo Courtesy Andyde on Flickr
SEARCH TOPS LIST OF HEALTH INFORMATION SOURCES
Harris Poll
Search engines are the go-to source for health information for most (69%) people.
57% of people have discussed information obtained online with their doctors.
That’s up from 44% and 53% in the last two years.
THOUGHT: Time was when the doctor’s opinion went unquestioned. The doctor had the medical training, after all, and was therefore the expert. Who were you to question?
But information is power and the availability of the world’s knowledge to all via the Internet has shifted the perception we previously had that experts had all the answers, that their opinion was solid.
The eroding of that conceptual barrier has motivated us to take matters into our own hands by researching topics and has made us more comfortable with sharing that knowledge with the experts in our lives, including our doctors.
This dynamic is becoming apparent to health care providers, individual physicians, and medical device makers that they can arm potential patients with information that will influence their own decisions or can influence their doctors.
Whereas a primary focus of marketing in the health care industry, especially for medical device manufacturers, has been on communicating directly with doctors, these health care companies are starting to attempt to directly influence consumers.
That’s why you typically see a lot of bold keywords in health-related search results and plenty of ads on the page because there’s a lot of search advertising and search engine optimization going on.
MINNESOTA MONDAY: Eight Minnesota companies land on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest-growing 500 companies.
Thank you for peanuts.
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