Tag Archives: social media

Day of Diabetes

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Last Friday I had the grand idea of “live tweeting” a day of diabetes. Every time I took a diabetes action, be it checking my Dexcom receiver, injecting insulin, or eating would get a tweet. I wasn’t sure how this would be received by my followers. Not that I’m looking to appease everyone, but I know that there’s a potential to overwhelm people with stuff like this. That’s why I try to post warning messages before my participation in #dsma chats.

But early on in the process I realized that it didn’t matter if I was inconveniencing anyone. If they want to unfollow me, that’s fine. The point of this was to show that diabetes, even on the good days, can be overwhelming. The point was to show that this disease is infinitely more complicated that the uninitiated could imagine. The point was to provide a moment of insight into what this disease is really like. After curating all of the tweets (and adding some commentary) on Storify, I have some final thoughts on the day’s adventures.

If you haven’t seen them yet, you can see my day on Storify.

First, to the people who thought “that’s a lot”, bless your heart: That was a good day.

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Diabetes Blog Week 2013 – Freaky Friday

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I’m just going to put this out there, because you all were thinking it:

Where were we?

I’m at a bit of a loss with this topic because I think it’s silly to actively wish diabetes upon someone else, or a different disease to call my own. Diabetes is a bummer, but that doesn’t mean we have to be overly dramatic about it.

But at the heart of today’s prompt is the notion that we are not alone in the ‘people with something wrong with them internally, but are still good people inside and out’ group. As expected, I focus a lot on diabetes. It’s kind of a big deal to me. And while I recognize that diabetes isn’t the only chronic condition out there, I didn’t fully connect the dots until Medicine X last year.

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Diabetes Blog Week 2013 – Share and Don’t Share

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It might seem vividly apparent from glancing at this blog that there’s more to me than my diabetes, but let me give you the full tour. I think this is important because for all the small talk we pretend to engage in, I don’t really know you. And you don’t really know me. I’d like to fix that. It’s entirely likely you’ll forget this experience, even if you jot it down in your chart. It’s probable that these additional characteristics won’t make a difference in how you engage me on a doctor/patient level instead of an adult/adult level. I don’t know if you’ll really learn anything from this, but it’s worth a shot.

As you may immediately notice from the header: I smile. It may not be evident based on our meetings every 3-5 months, but I have the capacity for humor (at least I think I’m funny) and well-meaning shenanigans.

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Social Utopia

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I recorded an episode of my podcast with Dr. Mike Sevilla tonight. You’ll hear it later this month, it’ll be well worth the wait. Among the many topics we covered was the dynamic of blogging from the perspective of the patient and the medical professional. I asked Dr. Sevilla if he had an ideal universe in which patients and doctors were engaging online in harmony – a utopia of sorts. I’ll save his response for the actual audio but I kept thinking about this hypothetical the rest of the evening. I think I’ve come to a point where I can articulate my two cents on the idea, which is why I’m here. And I suppose why you’re here, too.

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About Tumblr

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Mark Coatney, Director and Media Evangelist at Tumblr is on the podcast this week. We cover Mark’s career at Time and Newsweek including his unique opportunity for experimentation in the online space and how a simple typo landed his first job as Time Magazine. Mark also discusses his role at Tumblr, the popularity of the animated .gif, Tumblr’s worldwide growth – particularly in Brazil, and the future of social media and Tumblr’s role in that future. Enjoy.

Follow Mark on Twitter at @mcoatney and markcoatney.com.

And learn more about Tumblr at tumblr.com.

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About NationBuilder

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This week I’m joined by Adriel Hampton, Vice President of Community at NationBuilder. Our conversation is social media-heavy, but largely focused on the relationship between social media and government. We discuss Adriel’s decision to announce his Congressional campaign on Twitter and how social media use in and by government officials has evolved over the past four years. We also cover NationBuilder and how it can be utilized by a wide range of campaigns, candidates, and advocates looking to make a difference. Enjoy.

Follow Adriel on Twitter at @adrielhampton and wiredtoshare.com.

And learn more about NationBuilder at nationbuilder.com.

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Questions and Answers

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I’ll be moderating a Google+ Hangout tomorrow night (9pm eastern) featuring a few of the ePatients who attended Medicine X last year. We’ll be discussing the application process, our thoughts on last year’s event, and field questions from Twitter – all in an hour.

Honestly, I’m not sure what to expect. I haven’t done a “group podcast” in a while, and those are audio only. I’m expecting at least one moment of kittens on the webcam, and I’ll do my best to pay attention to what I’m doing on screen, since I’ll be the guy keeping everything moving.

This thing is meant for the people who have already applied and the people on the fence, but I’m going to do my part to make sure you fence sitters get a genuine look at what this conference is all about. Believe me, I was just like you before I submitted my application. I didn’t think I deserved to be there. I didn’t think my voice was worth hearing. I didn’t think I had anything to offer.

I was wrong.

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Health and Internet

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I feel like my voice in the larger “Health 2.0″ conversation is slowly, but surely, taking shape. Conversations that I avoided or ignored are garnering more attention today than they did a year ago. Granted, the quanitifiable amount of attention still isn’t anything to write home about (although it’s apparently enough to write on this blog) but I’m going to take this as a good thing.

For all the complaining that I may do, if I’m not trying to be part of the solution or at least trying to learn more about the problems that I see, then I’m not doing anyone any good. At all.

I’m not sure where these new interests will lead me, but I’m going to do my best to embrace whatever paths I find myself wandering as a result of my curiosities.

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(It’s Not) Spring Cleaning

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I know it’s still winter, even if the DC area has received a collective total of 2 inches of snow since December 1, but i figure it’s safe to do a little spring cleaning – online at least. Mostly this means clearing out the clutter of my Google Reader. I’ve been absolutely horrible about keeping up with sites and feeds that I find genuinely intresting and I think that has made me less interesting as a result.

If I don’t have anything meaningful to share from my perspective, I figure I could at least be better about sharing meaningful moments from someone else’s perspective.

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