integratePR blog

PhoneDog Twitter Lawsuit

The year may be 2012 but there are un-discussed issues from the previous year that we need to set right.  Towards the end of 2011, Noah Kravitz, former employee of PhoneDog, was slammed with a $340,000 lawsuit for stealing their customer list.

While working for the mobile phone site, Kravitz operated under the twitter handle @Phonedog_Noah, gaining 17,000 followers for the brand. Upon his departure from the company in October 2010, PhoneDog allowed Noah to keep the account in exchange for occasional post

After changing the account to @NoahKravitz and tweeting for eight months, PhoneDog sued claiming “the Twitter list was a

customer list,” and they are “seeking damages of $2.50 a month per follower for eight months” which accounts for the massive total.

As new forms of media emerge, new rules and laws must come about to define terms of intellectual property. It will be interesting to see how this case turns out; it will be one of the first cases that set the standard and guidelines of ownership and “cost of followers” on the Internet. Stay tuned!

Find a Kidney on Facebook

Technological evolution occurs across all industries and in one particular healthcare case in the end of 2011, the medical and social media industries collided.

The first kidney transplant was performed over 60 years ago in 1950, and the procedure has since been perfected. However, the problem of needing a donor makes the process less than ideal. Recipients can wait up to three years for a kidney from the live or dead donor list.

Social media has helped to change the game, most recently for Damon Brown, a father of two in Seattle, Washington. Although Brown admits that as a typically stoic person he was reluctant to put his illness out on his social networks, he was shocked and gratified to find positive response. After creating a Facebook page that gathered the support of 1,400 friends, four passed the initial screening with one of them eventually providing the correct match.

It is always exciting to see an application of social media that helps to change lives. As Facebook grows in size and reach it will be able to continue connecting people in need to those who are willing to donate!

New Social Network

One of the most commonly used phrases in the PR industry is “What will be the ‘new social network’?” and there has been much speculation as to whether it will be G+… or another new player in the race.

Rumors have been circulating that Apple may have something new in the works for this year. In the same vein of the iPod revolutionizing the music industry and the iPhone revolutionizing the telephone, any platform Apple would come out with could absolutely have the potential to turn the social media platform giants on end. With the proliferation of iPods, iPads, and iPhones to the mainstream media, it will be interesting to see if the new platform will seize the attention of the Apple loving public, a problem that G+ has encountered, despite its growing 293 million users.

Many doctors advise their patients to stay away from online medical sites like WebMD, Wikipedia, and MedicalNewsToday. However, a new report reveals that Internet access is making a significant impact on people with chronic illnesses. Earlier this year the California Healthcare Foundation paired with the Pew Internet and American Life Project to study the affects of Internet and social media use on people fighting chronic diseases—a group that usually has limited access to the Internet.

The results shed a whole new light on the possibilities offered by social media. Once this normally Internet-restricted group entered the online world, they were utilizing social media far beyond expectation. They are not only researching diseases on Google and Wikipedia, they are blogging, tweeting and taking advantage of all social media has to offer. They are joining online health forums and discussions such as PatientsLikeMe and Daily Strength, in an effort to reach out to others with similar diseases.

Social media has made the Internet more than a search engine for information. For this group of people, it has become a network for open dialogue with others who are going through similar experiences. It is communication at it’s finest. People want more than a WebMD page to read, they want real-time conversations with people who understand them in ways that doctors and loved ones—who aren’t experiencing their symptoms— can’t.

Researchers say this is a healthy outlet for people with chronic diseases. It is improving their health by enhancing their mindset and outlook. They have outlets to vent to, to give and receive support and to share thoughts, suggestions, and treatment options with others. People from all over the world are being united by a common experience through social media and the result is a healthier social environment for those who need it most.

Many doctors have noticed the trend and as a result, have made themselves accessible via social media; many take the time to be in contact with their patients like never before. Not only that, healthcare practitioners are beginning to network with each other and share healthcare information through online communities like CONNECT and Medpedia—taking the field of medicine to a whole new level.

Social media has surprised us again with its versatile application. Since we continually focus on how useful it is in the world of strategic communications, it’s refreshing to realize that social media can have uses beyond that. It is just one more reminder of how important communication is in all aspects of the world around us.