Finding experts through social media

From Jessica Ennis

One of the neat things I’ve learned about social media is that when you are engaging with your community, you find that your community may have pearls of wisdom to offer YOU. As professional communicators, we’re used to pushing out information to the public but we don’t often receive the information from them.

I recently asked fans of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s Facebook page to help me create a list of the best things to give a family who is facing a lengthy hospital stay. And boy, did they deliver. We got about 40 comments in all and we were able to compile a really great list with lots of very helpful suggestions. Coffee, chapstick, Tylenol and thick toilet paper seemed to be very popular must-have items.

Our fans are the true experts for this type of information because they have been there and done that … and brought home the ID bracelet. As cliche as it may sound, I’m beginning to really understand that social media is an onion with many, many layers. I keep peeling more away and finding new ones. And I find that incredibly exciting.

You can read all the comments here: http://www.facebook.com/childrenshospital?v=feed&story_fbid=266750728950.