You can view the press release here, or visit the share»send»save website for more information and to see it in action. (Blogger doesn't support share»send»save for individual content like this post, so visit share»send»save website to experience how it works.)
How It Came About
We started working on share»send»save some time ago when we noticed currently existing free social sharing tools posed certain risks to our clients, such as the possibility of added advertising and the unauthorized sharing of user and site data.
We actually soft-launched a beta version of share»send»save earlier this year. Then, when FDA issued its letter to Novartis concerning its social sharing widget, we dug even deeper into the challenge. While working short-term with our pharma, medical device, and animal health clients to review and update any sites that were in violation, we were working on a long-term solution as well. We were able to make some updates to share»send»save that helped address DDMAC's new concerns outlined in the letter. For more background on that situation, see our point-of-view on implications and recommendations here.
How It's Different
Our goal with share»send»save was to enable pharma companies (and other similarly regulated industries) to empower site users to share content while minimizing risk. It does that through some unique features that provide added control, such as:
◦ Only specified content and images are shared across channels. You can calibrate share»send»save so that you define what message and image (if any) is shared. Then, the same message is sent by the widget to be shared on the channels of choice.
◦ It uses special share-friendly social tags and keeps standard metadata intact. So sites can be optimized for search engines as well as social sharing at the same time - you don't have to choose between search and social.
◦ Shared URLs can be shortened to save space and also prevent product names or conditions from appearing in the URL if inappropriate. If you want the full URL to show, that's an option as well.
◦ This widget offers enhanced tracking and analytics. Detailed data around social sharing behavior on the site is available to site owners (in other words, that data is not owned by a random freebie sharing tool). The share»send»save data also can be incorporated into existing analytics packages such as Omniture, Google Analytics, and Webtrends.
◦ The widget offers some flexible customization options. We developed the product - but more so - we developed it for our clients' websites. The look-and-feel of the widget can be customized (color, etc.) to match site branding.
◦ When users choose the "send" option to send an email to a friend, the secure e-mail can include detailed important safety information and other customized info to help ensure the messages shared via email are in compliance.
◦ It provides the option of an interstitial “you are leaving this site” disclaimer. This was included for added peace of mind for the same legal and regulatory folks that require disclaimers like this for external links.
◦ Allows site owners to choose what channels (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are active. Don't want people to "digg" your content for whatever reason? Turn off that channel, and they won't have the option. New social sharing destinations emerging? We'll be adding those too.
Share Responsibily
Social sharing isn't for every company, brand or website. Unbranded websites and non-black-boxed product sites are still the safest environment for pharma social sharing. Above all, site owners should really be working extra-hard to offer content that is share-worthy to begin with.
Learn More
I'll be speaking more about this at ePatient Connections Conference next week, walking through a short demo and answering questions about social sharing. (Haven't signed up for the conference yet? Use discount code "Intouch300" to save $300. Sources tell me there are only 18 seats left as of this morning.) If you're already planning on being there, please say hi!
Tell Us What You Think
What do you think? I'm counting on the vocal pharma social media community to provide honest feedback and reviews. Does this solve a problem? Are there things we missed and ways we could improve the product? Does it matter? Is pharma waiting silently for DDMAC guidance until they make any big social sharing moves? Do people really want to share pharma's content anyway? Thanks in advance for your feedback!
IMHO, the vast Intouch team that worked on share»send»save did a great job, and I think it's a nice example of where creative minds, pharma knowledge, and technology know-how came together to solve a problem.
The pharma industry has enough problems, and if we can help solve just one, that makes me happy.
2 comments:
According to Jonathan Richman, ShareThis has already modified itself to be workable for the pharma world. See article:
http://bit.ly/d6e6HX
Hi Whitney - thanks for your comment. Yes - the adjustments to ShareThis were announced a couple weeks after our launch of share>send>save. Really, the more options for pharma to "share responsibly," the better.
However, for what its worth, we feel share>send>save is a safer alternative over ShareThis - especially for more conservative organizations - because of the added control it allows. Specialized features such as an interstitial "you are leaving this site" disclaimer, the ability to include safety information in the "send to a friend" emails, and the guarantee of no third-party advertising are things that help make it pharma-friendly. It also allows control over what content is shared in all social channels - not just Facebook.
(See also http://blog.intouchsol.com/2010/09/four-questions-to-ask-about-your-social.html)
In the end, we recommend pharma co's take a look at ALL the options out there - ShareThis, other free tools, and hopefully share>send>save - and decide for themselves what best fits their needs.
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