“Doctors approach social media as if they know everything, and it’s just not like that,” says Schipul. “Doctors are brilliant, but just because you’re brilliant doesn’t mean I’m going to have you repair an engine on the airplane I’ll be flying, because you’re not trained in that area. First, you have to walk in the room and listen.”

The room, in this case, is virtual, and Schipul says that social media are phenomenal tools to enable listening.

At M.D. Anderson, listening is helping patient advocacy staff assist patients with problems they have, such as being lost in the hospital or understanding a particular diagnosis. “We listen to what the conversations are about in social media, and we pass that on to patient advocacy,” says Texada, adding that physicians are active, too.

“If I was a doctor and was doing social media outreach, one of the first things I would do is send an e-mail to all of my employees and ask if any of them are already blogging and active in social media,” suggests Schipul. “They’re already on my payroll. And if they’re doing [social media] and they’re excited about it, then all I have to do is change their job responsibility.”