Andrew Spong’s insightful blog post on Google sidewiki discusses one of the most exciting and also perhaps worrying precedents in pharma online – the ability for users to ‘contribute helpful information to any web page’, essentially allowing people to say anything they want about pharma websites viewable by anyone who has installed the sidewiki application. So is it really Pandora’s box?
Andrew argues yes, since nothing can be done by the owners of the website in question to mediate the comment that has been left other than respond to it, other than actually engage in a conversation with those who are commenting. Obviously, regulations rule this out, so we will have to wait for new ABPI guidelines on this before anything can be done. This leaves pharma as sitting ducks. Technically, they cannot even listen to the conversation on sidewiki under current regulations so there is no way of even using the information as general feedback to act on. We’re now in a position where the internet is moving so quickly this needs to be addressed by the rulemakers – and quite urgently too otherwise the ideal of a ‘healthy conversation’ may never become a reality.
Tags: Andrew Spong, Google sidewiki, pharma online
This is a REALLY important issue that needs to be addressed and fast. I have clicked around on a number of pharma companies and sidewikis are being left. There is a Google sidewiki consultation going on as we speak with the deadline of today (14 October 2009): http://productideas.appspot.com/#16/e=219a8
People need to get voting!
couldn’t agree more!
[...] Wiles wrote a nice succinct post on this topic on the Virgo blog. She says: ‘…we will have to wait for new ABPI guidelines on this before anything can be [...]