How The Internet Is Changing Health Care

July 31, 2009

In late June, the Rochester, Minn.-based hospital system Mayo Clinic tried something it had never attempted before. Using the micro-blogging service Twitter, it announced the imminent release of a study on Celiac disease, an immune system response to gluten. Then it tracked which of its followers had re-distributed the Tweet and, after careful consideration, provided a few users with an embargoed copy of the study–a practice normally reserved for journalists. Those followers, each of whom have Celiac disease, were permitted to blog about the study once it was released to the public. (Forbes)