Pharmaceutical Social Media: The balance between free advertising and negative publicity

Costs for pharmaceuticals have increased by a huge factor over the last 20 years. American politicians have spent years debating why this is the case and how to best make necessary medications affordable to the typical American. People have long complained about the expenses of doctor's visits, but with the FDA approving medications at a record rate, pharmaceutical costs have become more pressing than ever. A large part of what drives costs so high is that pharmaceutical companies have to deal with a lot of lawsuits stemming from misinformation and much of that can be traced back to pharmaceutical social media. With people living longer, a bad economy and more pharmaceuticals being prescribed there have been a large increase in the number of lawsuits filed against pharmaceutical companies and the costs are passed on to the average American. Part of the rise in lawsuits can be traced to pharmaceutical social media's effects on customers' medical habits. It has become extremely difficult for pharmaceutical companies to keep up with everything said about them on social media. Many companies blindly view social media as completely free advertising, but sometimes the benefit of the medium belies the lack of control of the message. The downsides are common and can significantly hurt a brand's effectiveness and can eventually lead to lawsuits when products are misused or misapplied. Of course, because pharmaceutical companies have extensive pocketbooks, they are often easy targets for lawsuits that really speak more about general irresponsibility. Healthcare practitioners do everything they can to better inform individuals about their medications and treatment plans. But alongside this, the population itself has been educating itself, sometimes properly and sometimes not, using the internet. More specifically, the rise of pharmaceutical social media has been pronounced. Having greater access to information Is truly empowering for those that most need it, but for pharmaceutical companies it has become of supreme importance to become aware of the content created by users. This has also become extremely difficult due to the total amount of misinformation that exists and continues to be read, interpreted, and acted upon by well meaning, but ignorant individuals that take part in Pharmaceutical Social Media. Pharmaceutical social media, like the pharmaceuticals themselves, are safe when well researched and carefully applied. When people believe everything they anonymously read online rather than what corporations with billions of dollars at stake have to say, it can be dangerous. Then these well meaning people occasionally take it too far and sue the companies they didn't listen to in the first place. It's a dangerous combination that undermines a lot of what social media has done. The pharmaceutical companies are well meaning as well, but once some misinformation happens to go viral, it can be almost impossible for it to be stopped and for changes to be made. As the power and impact of pharmaceutical social media grows in the mainstream, these problems will only continue to grow as well.