Moving at the Speed of Light

 We are in the digital age. Technology is changing faster than we can keep up. The fact that the 45^th President of the United States asked if he should keep his personal Twitter account is just one example of how the digital world has changed the way we communicate. I think we will see a decline in officially press releases through print media, but more given through social media with links to videos or documents. So with the convergence of digital media in our world today, how can strategic communicators use this platform to advance our messages? 

In Tom Wheeler’s Book “Net Effects: The Past, Present and Future of Our Networks” he says 

“What is clear about our network revolution, however, is that the new information networks are the new economy. Whereas earlier networks enabled the economic activities of their era, our network revolution defines virtually all aspects of the current economy.”

 This is so true. Never before have we seen technology define so many aspects of our lives and define the way we live, work and function as a society.  As strategic communicators our challenge is to find innovative ways to use this technology to the advantage of our organizations.  How you position your E-Commerce brand or your social media strategy could mean the difference between you being profitable and delivering to shareholders or you having a very different conversation when the fiscal year is up. Strategic communicators must figure out how to make their organization valuable in the barrage of information thrown at consumers on a regular basis. Wheeler mentions a USA Today article that says “Technology was supposed to free us and make our lives easier, but it’s done the opposite. It’s creating havoc in our lives. Everyone is overwhelmed and stressed out.”

So how can strategic communicators become be both artisans and industrialists in this new age of digital technology? How can we utilize the digital networks to streamline our respective fields?  Wheeler uses a great example in healthcare where “…new networks create the opportunity to transform medical treatment from an ex post experience dealing with a presented problem, to an ex ante experience that anticipates the problem and prevents or mitigates it- at a significantly lower cost. They offer, in other words, a new combination: the bigness of scale economics with the personalization of the individual design. The power of mass production meets the individual artisan”.  In my field of cancer care, precision medicine is where the treatment of cancer is heading. Technology has allowed oncologists to tailor a patient’s treatment based on biomedical markers based on their genetic, proteinaceous, and metabolic profile. According to the American Cancer Society’s Cutting Edge Cancer Science Series from April 2015,

 “researchers have learned over time is that cancer can arise from any number of genetic malfunctions, and often is due to a combination of errors, that ultimately lead to the out-of-control cell growth that causes tumors to grow and spread. This knowledge has allowed doctors to sometimes move cancer treatment from a broad-brush approach – using radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy to wipe out cancer and taking out normal healthy cells in the process – to a more targeted technique”. 

The digital age has allowed researchers and oncologists to share research findings and treatment protocols and their outcomes. The networks of today allow for data to be tracked, collected and examined in order to find data points of significance that impact cancer care. As a strategic communicator in the field of oncology, my role is to help my organization find the best ways to empower patients and healthcare providers through this new technology. Arming patients with the latest news on clinical trials and how to become a part of them or that they have a choice in their cancer treatment and how to know which oncologist is right for them.

From a provider standpoint, what resources can we provide as an organization to address their needs as a healthcare provider? Providing an understanding the new reimbursement models from CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) may ease the anxiety of a rural physician who doesn’t have a large staff committed to staying on top of physician requirements for the program.

So while living in a digital age opens us up to a wealth of information, it’s what we do with that information and how we use it to benefit our organization that makes it valuable.

A part of this now digital age come questions such as privacy and accessibility. Strategic communicators must consider this part of the equation when developing a communications strategy for your organization. If you are a part of a healthcare organization HIPPA governs patient privacy. You must take this into consideration anytime you are creating pieces that involve patients or their data. A strategy to offer alternative methods for obtaining information may be relevant if accessibility is a factor for your audience. Providing print material, multiple languages and downloads are just one way our organization helps rural practices address this issue of digital accessibility.

In conclusion, strategic communicators must embrace the digital age. They must also develop a strategy for their organization on how to effectively use the platforms made available by digital networking. The “how” is as important as the “what” at times.  How the President of the United States chooses to use his Twitter account is far more impactful to the nation than the platform itself. How the healthcare community chooses to use the power of this new digital network can greatly impact the way we treat horrible diseases such as cancer. How we address issues such as privacy and accessibility are also part of the equation. By embracing the good and the bad digital technology brings to our world will allow us to create communication strategies that make put our organization on the forefront of their respective fields. Strategic communicators must stay on top of the ever changing digital world and how to best use these changes for our organizations.