Ophthalmology Patient Portal and Online Communication Editorial

From Stone to Fiber and Bell to Tweet

A lot can be written about what it means for society when a monument takes voice in cyberspace. Earlier this year, the famous London bell, Big Ben, took its hourly "Bong" to the tweets.

While its mighty bong may only be audible around Trafalgar Square, it is now also on the tweetwaves. On Twitter its sound carries around the world within milliseconds. At the same time other British monuments and bridges have joined the din including London Bridge which quips about passersby, and Tower Bridge which announces passing boats to those who tune in.

What is more remarkable? Is it that monuments of stone have found a voice online or that they are being experienced in an entirely new fashion? Is it that they may be experienced at all by those thousands

 Marc-François Bradley
 President & CEO
 Sophrona Solutions

of miles and many time zones away? Or is that we care?

Any one of these questions could serve as fodder for this editorial, but I am a technologist, not an anthropologist nor a sociologist. To me it is fascinating that within a few short months 27,780 people around the world have chosen to receive an hourly dose of "BONG"s typed across their Twitter home page.

It may be a story about democratization and universal access to a monument never before possible, or it may be the cheapening of a national heritage. What is clear, however, is that this is yet another example of how the internet breaks down geographic barriers and time shifts.  Big Ben still tweets on Greenwich Mean Time from London, but I can hear it from my home in North America even if I am not checking exactly on the hour.

Expertise & Craft Amplified by Online Technology

The lesson for the forward thinking ophthalmologist is to carry excellence in one area that is local and physically constrained to a greater audience online. Big Ben's classic toll has found a way to reach beyond Trafalgar Square. In the same way, a talented surgeon must learn how to be experienced by prospective patients beyond her immediate circle of happy patients and referring physicians. She needs to find a way to resonate online.

A practice’s patient portal, website, email marketing, and social networking sites are all tools that enrich patient interaction and experience outside of your physical sphere of influence and business hours.

This is the amplification value of online patient communication.