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Survey began 14 April 2010

This survey solicits reader opinion on the Best Practices for Moderation of Pharma Social Media Discussions.

Take the survey Now!

See Resources & Further Reading below...

Background

As more and more pharmaceutical companies launch social networking platforms associated with their brands, some will allow users (consumers, patients, and physicians) to post comments as part of ongoing discussions about drugs and/or the conditions they treat. Recent pharma experience with social media discussions (see See Resources & Further Reading below...) demonstrate how important it is to properly manage online communities. Perhaps the most important management tool is moderation.

This survey asks your opinion of how pharmaceutical companies should moderate online discussions on sites that they own and/or control.

Consider a consumer/patient focused social network site that is owned and operated by a pharmaceutical company. It could be an "unbranded" disease information site or it can be a branded product support site. Visitors are allowed to submit comments to be posted to the site. The goal is to offer information and support through active discussions among site visitors and between visitors and the pharmaceutical company. The site's terms and conditions specify what types of comments are acceptable and how they will be moderated.

Survey questions include:

• To enforce the terms of use of the site, what type of moderation should be employed?
  • Pre-screening comments BEFORE they are posted
  • Post-screening comments AFTER they are posted
  • NO screening/moderation at all

• In the case where NO MODERATION is employed or possible, please indicate whether you agree, disagree, or have no opinion regarding the following statements.
  • The company's brand will suffer because of illegal, inappropriate, inaccurate, or misleading comments no matter what corrections are posted.
  • Users will suffer because of exposure to illegal, inappropriate, inaccurate, or misleading comments no matter what corrections are posted.
  • The company can always counteract any illegal, inappropriate, inaccurate, or misleading comments with its own truthful statements.
  • The community of users, apart from the company itself, will self-correct any illegal, inappropriate, inaccurate, or misleading comments.

• Indicate whether you agree, disagree, or have no opinion regarding the following statements about PRE-SCREENING (screening BEFORE post is published)
  • Prevents misinformation (including off-label drug information) from being published and then possibly propagated throughout the Internet.
  • Keeps the site from being overrun by spam or other malicious posts.
  • Requires too many resources (ie, FTEs) or nearly impossible to do in a timely fashion considering the 24/7 nature of online discussions.
  • The delay -- even a short delay -- before posts appear will inhibit the use of the site and make it virtually useless.

• indicate whether you agree, disagree, or have no opinion regarding the following statements about POST-SCREENING (moderation AFTER post is published)
  • Review all new posts in a timely fashion (eg, within 48 hours).
  • Before deleting posts, publish a response indicating that the post violates the terms and will be deleted.
  • When posts are deleted, perform a "soft delete," which shows that a post was deleted and why it was deleted.
  • Do a "hard delete" (remove completely with no remaining record that the post existed).

• Whatever the type of moderation option used, who is the best choice for moderator?
  • A well-trained marketing/corporate communications employee
  • A legal/regulatory expert employee
  • An outside 3rd-party experienced service provider or consultant

Results of this survey will be summarized in an issue of Pharma Marketing News.

Resources & Further Reading:

• What Sanofi-Aventis Learned from Its FaceBook Experience & What the Experts Recommend It Do Now
• Online Community Management: Moderation Best Practices & Other Tips for Pharma Social Media Managers (podcast)
• Pharma Should Leave Unmoderated SM Discussions to 3rd Parties (opinion)

Survey Results:

• Results of this survey will be summarized in an issue of Pharma Marketing News.