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Lina Kirby
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Lina Kirby2016-10-03 11:35:422019-10-28 09:06:40Online Health Communities: A New Frontier in Health ResearchHealth Union’s data-driven industry conversations help pharma make smarter, more effective decisions. Check out our latest thought leadership pieces below.
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280
900
Lina Kirby
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Lina Kirby2016-10-03 11:35:422019-10-28 09:06:40Online Health Communities: A New Frontier in Health Research
Health Stories & the Communities that Hear Them
We, as humans, are natural story tellers. Even our most basic communications are often expressed in the form of a narrative. “A narrative account involves a sequence of two or more bits of information which are presented in such a way that if the order of the sequence were changed, the meaning of the account would alter”. We apply this, and multiple other indicators, all the time. Temporal changes, tense variation, climaxing topics, learned morals — we incorporate these elements into much of our daily conversation without even realizing it. And we come to digest and remember our experiences based on repeated narration.

Unique Aspects of Managing Health Communities
Anyone who manages a community — online or offline — will identify sensitivities within that community. This includes topics that either generate strong feelings of consensus or prompt division within members. The role of the community manager is to identify these sensitivities, and then manage them in a way that generates positive, productive discussions.

Back to Basics: What is Community?
As busy community managers, it can be easy to get caught up in the daily work of assessments, moderating, and even theories behind community work — and get distracted from the original vision for one’s company. So it’s important to revisit how one is going about reaching those goals. At Health Union, we find that revisiting “the basics” can be a critical exercise in constantly reexamining our approach to community management. In a recent team brainstorming session, our VP of Community Development, Amrita Bhowmick, created an exercise that allowed our group to easily share our ideas about what “community” means to us, and what qualities can make or break a community.
Heartbeats vs. Heatmaps: Why the Future of Pharma Media is Human
In an era of rampant automation and AI disruption, how do we keep the “human” in healthcare? We explore the growing tension between the science of automation and the art of human connection.
The “Buy Now” Era of Pharma: Navigating Pharma’s Direct-to-Patient Revolution
Learn how the shift to Direct-to-Patient (DTP) models is transforming online health communities into “digital front doors” that turn trusted community engagement into high-intent care.
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