Can you ever love your dentist? The answer could be ‘yes,' as one learns from the social media case of Dr Irena Vaksman, narrated by Gary Vaynerchuk in The Thank You Economy ( >www.landmarkonthenet.com ).

Some people might still think it is a little jarring to see medical practitioners marketing themselves on social networking sites, but Dr Vaksman, who practises in San Francisco, is simply trailblazing where other doctors are eventually going to follow, the author notes. He reasons that when over half the adult population of online users are at least occasionally turning to online reviews and commentary to inform their healthcare decisions, it makes sense that the professionals providing healthcare should be there, ready to talk to them as well.

The book cites a 2009 Pew Research Centre report that 61 per cent of adults look online for health information, and that 59 per cent of these have done at least one of the following activities: “Read someone else's commentary or experience about health or medical issues on an online news group, website, or blog; consulted rankings or reviews online of doctors or other providers; consulted rankings or reviews online of hospitals or other medical facilities; signed up to receive updates about health or medical issues; and listened to a podcast about health or medical issues.”

(To me, that perhaps explains why ‘Surgery for severe kyphosis (hunchback deformities) - a presentation' ( >http://youtu.be/7UoA5kQgUFQ ) – one of the 18,000-plus videos on my channel >http://bit.ly/TopTalk – is among the ‘Most viewed.' It is a snatch of an interview with Dr S. Rajasekaran, Director and Head, Dept of Orthopaedic & Spine Surgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore.)

It can be instructive to know that Dr Vaksman differentiated herself from the thousands of other already well-established dentists in her dense urban locality by establishing a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, and by offering a Groupon, an experiment that brought new patients to her five-month-old practice in droves, the book recounts.

In a section titled ‘It takes just one customer,' the author traces how Loïc Le Meur (an internationally known entrepreneur, the developer of the social software app Seesmic, who was ranked by BusinessWeek as one of 2008's twenty-five most influential people on the Web) found that his new dentist had a social media presence and thought that was worth writing about in his blog. “Like most of Dr Vaksman's other patients, he was complimentary and pleased with the thorough care he received and with the office's use of sophisticated, state-of-the-art technology. He did question, however, whether Dr Vaksman was using her social networking sites properly, and whether she even needed them at all. After all, it's not easy to keep up with multiple Web presences, and Le Meur wondered how much a dentist could find to talk about.”

The way the doctor responded to the criticism can be educative. For, she used the opportunity to open up a dialogue, and wrote in to explain the social media strategy and plans for the future, observes Vaynerchuk. And that the resulting conversation gave readers incredible insight into Dr Vaksman as an entrepreneur and a medical professional. “From there, TechCrunch picked up the story, and decided to feature Dr Vaksman in an article about how small businesses are using social media…”

Reminds Vaynerchuk that being an early social media adopter is not the only reason Dr Vaksman is getting so much attention. He argues that no one would have paid her any mind if the majority of the comments left on her sites were not incredibly positive. “But they are, praising everything from the courtesy of her staff to the thoroughness of her cleanings and exams to her caring manner. Such good reviews probably explain why Facebook users make up approximately 19 per cent of Dr Vaksman's website traffic.”

A paragraph titled ‘Shock and awe' speaks about the other perceived positives, thus: “Patients rave about the movie goggles they can wear. They rave about the soothing, spa-like atmosphere of the office. They rave about the twenty-third-floor view out the window. They rave about the tooth-by-tooth consultation they get from the dentist. There seems to be a lot to rave about.”

A book that can get you started on the social media journey to discover business value.

How autistics can benefit from the Web

The general news about ‘autism,' were you to search on the Net, can be dismal. Sample these, at the time of writing: ‘Environment blamed for autismý' (Science News); ‘Mom's antidepressant use linked to autism risk in children' (Medscape); and ‘Local outrage drives autism group home away' (Queens Courier). It can, therefore, be reassuring to read an optimistic take about autism in Create Your Own Economy: The path to prosperity in a disordered world by Tyler Cowen ( >www.landmarkonthenet.com ).

Acknowledging that autistics face many problems and obstacles, the author adds that autistics can benefit from the web, because the web allows people to exchange ideas without being in each other's physical presence. “Since many autistics find public circulation to be exhausting (to varying degrees), this is for them an enormous benefit. Autistics can exchange ideas and feelings with other people — including of course other autistics — with greater ease than before.”

Aspects of technology highlighted in the book as being useful to autistics are not just email and websites, but also forums in Second Life, the online virtual reality platform, where autistics IM and talk to each other, build virtual museums to neuro-diversity and its heroes, and exchange tips on how to handle social interactions with non-autistics — things that were not possible about ten years ago.

Cowen is also hopeful that many autistics who do not speak intelligibly, yet who are highly intelligent, could use iPhones or related devices to communicate to others in public. (Again, at the time of writing, a simple search for ‘ipad apps for autism' yields exciting results!)

If you wonder how autistics are using the web to augment their cognitive strengths, the author explains, thus: “Let's say that an autistic person is relatively good at rapidly absorbing new blocks of information, analysing that information, and interpreting, ordering, and repackaging the result in written form. The web gives autistics a medium in which those strengths are amplified and then broadcast to large numbers of other people.” In Cowen's view, autistic cognitive skills are more likely to rise to a status when they are admired, even though those skills are rarely recognised as such. For, there are many media for mental ordering on the web and autistics have a comparative advantage at working with these media and indeed inventing them.

Exploring further, the author finds that the web has elevated the primacy of the written word in our culture. This, he observes, benefits the numerous autistics who are more skilled in written communication than in face-to-face verbal communication. “The move of so much economic and cultural activity to the web makes these autistic lives much easier. For autistics it's a stroke of luck that the written word and the image have been so elevated by recent technology.”

The final message of the book – rather than being about autistics or about the web – is about respect for the individual. In the study of human neurology, the author therefore sees not just science or a tool for diagnosis or medical intervention, but also “a path toward appreciating the diversity of the human spirit, the splendour of the individual mind, and importance of respecting the individuality of each mind.”

Imperative read, for the extensive hope the book offers to discover clarity among what seem cluttered.

> dmurali@thehindu.co.in

Tailpiece

“When we put a cap on the number of slides in any presentation, a new problem came up.”

“The problem of boredom caused by an unchanging screen?”

“No, the problem of visibility, because the presenters were packing too much content into each slide, and so we had to specify the minimum font size!

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