Diabetes patient and racecar driver Charlie Kimball is sponsored by Novo Nordisk’s Levemir insulin injection. I’ve written about the Race with Insulin Twitter account , which supposedly features tweets made by Charlie, in previous posts to this blog (see ” Novo Nordisk’s Branded (Levemir) Tweet is Sleazy Twitter Spam! ” and ” Pharma Marketers Should Stop Blaming the FDA for Their Dysfunctional Social Media Marketing Efforts “). In response to a post I made about a branded Levemir tweet made by Charlie via his Race with Insulin account, I received this email message from a personal friend of Charlie’s: “I happen to know Charlie …

Diabetes patient/racecar driver Charlie Kimball — or his Novo Nordisk marketing handler(s) — made the first ever pharma drug branded Tweet, which was offered up as a “model” for others to follow. I disagree (see ” Novo Nordisk’s Branded (Levemir) Tweet is Sleazy Twitter Spam! “). Whether or not Kimball’s Tweet was “sleazy,” “spam,” “uninspiring,” or something else, it will surely be followed by others

We are risk adverse- This is probably the number one reason that pharma does not embrace social media. With the FDA flexing their muscles a lot of regulatory and legal people are not willing to sign off on anything social until someone higher up commits to taking some risks to benefit patients

Last week I suggested that a Tweet supposedly made by diabetes patient/racecar driver Charlie Kimball was at best a “sleazy” reminder ad and, at worst, “spam’ (meaning a product promotional message I never asked to receive).

Ross Fetterolf, VP Digital Strategy at Ignite Health, said yesterday was an “Historic Day” because “diabetes patient/racecar driver Charlie Kimball produced the first branded tweet on his Race With Insulin Twitter page (@racewithinsulin, http://twitter.com/racewithinsulin)” (see ” A Historic Day: The First Branded Pharma Tweet “). Here’s how the branded Tweet looks on Kimball’s Twitter Web page: (Click image for an enlarged, readable view.) In this context — the racewithinsulin Twitter Web page — the branded Tweet appears on the same page that mentions the indication — diabetes — as well as the side effect, fair balance information; although the latter is written using a mouse-sized, barely readable text font

I have a confession.

Lately, my Twitter friends have alerted me to all sorts of examples of pharmaceutical companies delving into social media for marketing and corporate communications.

I have to say that I was quite impressed with the Gardasil page within Facebook. My research has consistently shown that women relate to each other for a sense of a tight community when it comes health issues and now that cervical cancer seems to be preventable it’s a great way to get the word out.

Adverse events! Adverse events! Adverse events! How many times have you heard that tiresome phrase from pharmaceutical companies as an excuse for NOT embracing social media marketing? Practically every social media endeavor that drug companies have engaged in has been a traditional one-sided affair: the drug company talks to the visitor, the visitor never talks to the drug company. Even in so-called online “communities” sponsored by drug companies, there is very little community at all

This, apparently, is a stampede in progress…. Today the Post ran a story in its Health Section that had the headline "Drug Firms Jockey for Space Online" and when the story print continuity breaks and carries on to a subsequent page, the headline is "Drugmakers Seeking a Niche Flock to Online Social Media."  Emphasis my own.     Flock?