We’ve announced our Google Tools workshop webinar July 7th, and Workshop 2 is now available as a recording. Check out our workshops and training page for other offerings.

Comprendia’s analysis of the top life science company Twitter accounts was recognized by Affymetrix in this press release. We congratulate them on their success with social media and hope that our analyses and expertise will continue to facilitate increased communication between biotech companies and the researchers they serve. As part of Comprendia’s 3rd anniversary celebrations this month, we will be announcing more products, services, and awards shortly towards our goal of encouraging increased transparency and collaboration the life sciences.
To share this post easily cut and paste: Comprendia Life Science Social Media Report Recognized by Affymetrix http://bit.ly/kCeaIi

Twitter is currently the most active area for life science companies in social media, we count around 170 accounts. For this analysis, we only count companies who deal primarily with non-FDA regulated products. While our survey earlier this year confirms Twitter as the top interest for marketers, we find that follow through isn’t always guaranteed. To highlight life science companies which are doing a great job on Twitter, we employed the influence tool Klout to rank them.

Klout is an application which gives Twitter accounts a score according to how many followers they have and how much they engage with others on Twitter. It’s not perfect, but gives a good indication of the performance of a Twitterer. The life science companies on Twitter are shown in the ManyEyes bubble chart visualization above, and the largest circles have the top Klout. The colors represents Klout’s assessment of the performance of the Twitter account, and by viewing the chart on the ManyEyes site you can also color by the class they assign to each user, see a description of the Klout classes here. You can also access the data, and the top 10 Twitter accounts are shown below. I’d like to thank Mike Chelen for creating the Klout batch application for us.

How accurate are the results? For the most part, the results match our intuition as to which Twitterers ‘get it’ and are doing well. However, we did notice that some larger brands can get away with little engagement and still have a strong Klout score. See, for example, @Agilent which is an automatic feed. This may be where Klout is not as accurate, because we all know accounts that are engaging are more effective. Several of the larger brands follow far fewer than follow them, and we suggest that if they truly want to listen to customers and participate, that they should follow and engage. We don’t see larger life science brands having a personality like Twitter successes Zappos or Comcast have, and would love to see this take place. Indeed, Comprendia has a significantly higher Klout score than even these large corporations, likely due to our three years of daily effort on Twitter and the personal relationships we’ve formed with life science influencers (and we truly care about the community, we’re not just trying to get a high score).

Smaller companies are well represented in the list, with Mendeley, Integrated DNA Technology, and BioData being in the top five. All have great engagement–a must for small companies to get good traction. We were pleasantly surprised to see that @GenomicApps, a new account started by our colleague Ruby Gadelrab aka @divabiotech a few months ago, is already competing well with more established accounts. We know Ruby’s a social media aficionado, so this isn’t surprising. We’re also happy that @EpiExperts, which Tweets about the epigenetics community we developed with New England Biolabs, is doing so well after only starting a few months ago as well.

What is the relevance of this study to your Twitter strategy? We know social media is not all about numbers, but having more followers and influence gives you better exposure and all the benefits. Twitter’s increasing impact on search engine results has been recently documented. Check out our howto post on getting more Twitter followers or take our Twitter workshop. Not only will these resources help you to raise your Klout score and influence, but the strategies and tactics will help you get more out of the application, including getting more feedback and learning about trends. We can also use the Klout batch application in conjunction with our other social media monitoring tools to find life science influencers in any area, contact us for more information.

Also interesting for life science brands is that Klout is allowing users to promote other users, and one could envision that it could be used in many ways to get your brand noticed. We had a lively discussion about it on Twitter this week, and of course I welcome your continued comments. In addition, Klout’s move is a result of the ‘gamification of social media‘ that is occurring also in applications such as Empire Avenue.

P.S. An honorable mention goes to @Clonegene who were 11th on this list, and engaged with us this week, asking about their ranking!

To share this post easily, cut and paste: Life Science Companies on Twitter: Who’s On Top? http://bit.ly/ls_inf

Here’s a great video from Imperial College in which several life scientists discuss their interest in social media.

Blogs, Twitter, Wikis and other on-line tools from John Conway on Vimeo.

How can life science companies participate? Join us June 9th for our Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshop 2: The 4 B’s of First Party Applications and find out!

To share this post easily, cut and paste: How Do Life Scientists Use Social Media? http://bit.ly/iZ35ss

Here’s our most recent playlist of links and tips for life science marketing and social media:

1. Sigma updates website.

   Sigma Adrich has updated their website. It looks nice (except I think they need to be consistent with the red–it’s too light at the top) and time will tell whether life science researchers find it easier to use. The video about the new site shows 4-5 staff members describing the changes and excitement they have for it (frankly I’d rather just see the updates). The video is a bit over the top–did they really work with the ‘top designers in the world’? From the web 2.0 standpoint, they now have favorites and product reviews, which is great, and it looks to be iPad compatible. Social media is not prominently displayed–links are in gray at the bottom right. They indicate that it is the ‘first stage in their digital evolution.’ The sophisticated video makes me think of this post about every company needing to be a media company now. Is your company expanding its video production team?

2. Tineye image search.

   This is cool. Ever see an image in an Ad, or get sent an image that someone in your group wants to use in some marketing materials, but don’t know where it’s from? Enter Tineye–upload an image from your computer or give the original web address and the application will try to locate it on the web so you can purchase it, etc. It has saved me many times!

3. Millipore creates iPad app.

   Millipore, now EMD Millipore, has launched an iPad application which helps researchers map histone modifications, and lists publications and their products that are related. This app can be seen to extend the tools they have on the web, such as clickable pathways and a GPCR and kinase profiling tool. They have a very content rich, and web 2.0 site in several ways (interface and layout), but their social media presence is not very engaging, which is a shame. The iPad app is a nice addition, it will be interesting to see how popular it is.

4. Life Technologies launches Invitrogen and Applied BioSystems Facebook pages.

   OK this move confuses me. LIFE has been very active in social media, creating an overall corporate presence and ‘personalities’ for different product lines (e.g., Everyday Cloning). They’ve recently launched Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems Facebook pages. In our workshops and training, we talk about the fact that life scientists need to find value to participate in social media–what is the value in following a broad product line? To me, it muddies the identity of LIFE as a brand. An additional complication is that Facebook has organization pages for each of these sub brands (example), which the company has no control over. Whatever happens, you can follow all of LIFE social media via the RSS or email alert we’ve created.

The soundbytes tag on Delicious contains all links mentioned, as well as others we think are useful. Sign up for Comprendia blog email updates to get our playlists delivered to your inbox.

To share this post easily cut and paste: Sound Bytes: Links and Tips For Life Science Marketing & Social Media 5/26/2011 http://bit.ly/soundbytes05_26

A quick post to let you know that we’ve announced our Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshop 2: The 4 B’s of First Party Applications webinar, which will take place June 9th. Also, our Facebook workshop webinar is now available for you to order and view at your convenience, along with others on our workshops and training page. As always, contact us if you have questions, and hope to ‘see’ you at a workshop soon!

To share this post easily cut and paste: Comprendia’s Social Media Workshop 2 June 9th & Facebook Webinar Available http://bit.ly/jyhqM4

There have been reports that have been coming out lately showing that multitasking, an activity often exacerbated by the internet and social media, can be less effective, shorten our attention spans and even affect our relationships. Recently I went to some conference presentations and noticed a difference in my attention span–that nagging feeling that I’m missing information, having to tell myself “you can only check your phone once every 15 minutes.” I decided to go cold turkey for a day–no internet, period. Granted, it was a Sunday, but I gained some insights relevant to life science business planning that i’d like to share.

I started at 7 p.m. Saturday, announcing to the Twitterverse that they should expect to not hear from me for 24 hours. Shortly after I signed off I realized I promised to make a dish the next morning for which I did not have the recipe…get out the old cookbooks! Lesson one was that I rediscovered the usefulness of browsing. I have about 40 cookbooks, several I have forgotten about, and I reacquainted myself with some of them and some recipes I would never have found via a Google search. When we rely on what we think we want, we limit ourselves. I actually found my first Seth Godin book in the ‘new books’ section at my local library. My point? Find ways to ‘browse’ for ideas for your life science business, whether it be books, magazines, or events where you’ll meet people with backgrounds and ideas that may differ from yours. Yes, we have too many meetings, but what about starting a few creative brainstorming meetings over lunch with pizza? Things just happen IRL (in real life) that don’t happen over email–in effect, you’re ‘browsing’ others’ ideas.

The next morning was tough, as I normally begin the day with my smart phone or computer. I was left alone with my thoughts! Lesson two is that time to gain perspective is important. From a business perspective, this is incredibly important. With marketers moving towards social media, with its daily need for content and curation, there is a tendency towards implementing tactics without having a strategy. To combat this, we suggest creating more living documents, such as a Social Media Charter, which can change more frequently than a yearly marketing plan. This way, you’ll have a plan, but be able to make changes on the more rapid scale that social media requires. Additionally, you need to allow your team time to develop and implement social media strategies–don’t just have them incorporate them into their daily tasks. Studies have shown that multitasking takes longer than doing tasks serially. We’ve provided a guide to implement social media in 10 minutes a day to help.

My next challenge came when I was driving to my friends’ new house–no GPS allowed! I found that my road map was still in my car and used it to guide me. Additionally, I discovered that I looked more carefully for landmarks and felt as though I now have more skills to find the house even if I make a wrong turn. Lesson three and parallels to life science business here? Many of us have gotten into the business side of life science because we have natural abilities and instincts in marketing, sales, or management. Today, we can get sidetracked by the many metrics available, for example website analytics, brand monitoring, and key performance indicators. Are you being driven by any of these metrics unnecessarily? Take a step back and talk to your colleagues or customers about what’s important to your business and what direction you think the business should take.

I made it (just barely) to 7 p.m. that Sunday with no internet, it actually was very refreshing. The number of emails that accumulated were minimal, and checking hourly really would have been a waste of time–I really don’t need to be so tied to it! I’ve decided to ‘unplug’ for a half day every week, and to multitask less. Many of my tasks require the internet, so going without it is tough (I can simply switch the wifi off on my laptop if needed), but I can shut off Twitter and email easily enough. I love my Moleskine journal and will continue to have it handy for jotting down notes or drafting blog posts. Off site planning meetings are also in the works for us. Time to gain perspective is rarely wasted, I suggest you do the same. I’ve also heard some companies ban smart phones from meetings. What are your ideas for unplugging?

To share this post easily, cut and paste: My 24 Hours Unplugged: What We Can Learn About Life Science Business Planning http://bit.ly/lnfPJg

Up to 95% of your life science customers are using Facebook, are you leveraging it yet? Attend our workshop webinar May 12th and you’ll receive training and the materials you need to get started quickly.

You may remember we surveyed life science marketers regarding their plans for 2011 for the ScienceOnline2011 (scio11) conference we attended in January. Thought leaders Arikia Millikan, Dave Mosher, and Taylor Dobbs did a survey of scio11 participants and enthusiasts with a great sample size (339) and the results haven’t been published formally so I analyzed the results (special thanks to Dave Mosher and Taylor Dobbs for making the data public). More demographics are included in the Slideshare presentation below, and our summary of the results is also given. Of course, our blog is tailored towards life science companies and marketers, so we included information pertinent to our audience, and note that we provide life science social media workshops and training, including Twitter and Facebook. We’d love to know how you’d interpret the results, please leave a comment below!

To share this post easily cut and paste: ScienceOnline2011 Web 2.0wned Survey: Social Media a Must for Staying Current, Twitter Top Tool #scio11 http://comprendia.com/surveyscio11

Here’s our most recent playlist of links and tips for life science marketing and social media:

1. Promega updates website.

Promega recently redesigned their website, and while I thought the old one seemed easy to navigate, it’s clear they’re looking forward with this redesign. The interface is simpler and they also offer RSS feeds for some sections (which we’d love to see for ALL areas of ALL life science company websites). They have a chat feature too (not sure if it’s new) which is good as a grad student cancer researcher I spoke to recently said that “phone calls are only for emergencies,” typical of the new scientist’s attitude. Promega will also be linking their blog soon and has also started a blog-style news aggregator called “Forensic Connections.”

2. Scientists and the social media survey.

Lab Manager Magazine recently published a social media survey of 300 of their readers. Take a look at the results and judge for yourself, but we’re hesitant to give a full ‘thumbs up’ on the survey as the article isn’t a full report. The results are different than what we’ve found with our surveys, for example LinkedIn is the most popular application. The answers do underline the importance of surveying your subset of life science customers, as social media preferences will vary depending on the age, computer proficiency, and environment of researchers or professionals.

3. Salesforce acquires Radian6.

As we talked about in our Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshop 4, we see Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) software as having the best options for tracking social media return on investment (ROI). Radian6 is a social media monitoring company, so this bodes well for being able to track these metrics, check out this nice overview of social CRM to see what may be possible soon.

4. Life Technologies launches Cell Imaging smart phone app.

Nice app for Mac devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) and Droid which features products and protocols from the Molecular Probes brand of cell imaging products. It’s a bit product centric compared to most social media apps, but the addition of protocols may mean that scientists will adopt.

The soundbytes tag on Delicious contains all links mentioned, as well as others we think are useful. Sign up for Comprendia blog email updates to get our playlists delivered to your inbox.

To share this post easily cut and paste: Sound Bytes: Links and Tips For Life Science Marketing & Social Media 4/15/2011 http://bit.ly/soundbytes0415