Each day, life scientists share their thoughts on conferences, research tools, and brands on social media. While adoption may be slow on any individual application, most researchers will use the internet to discuss and search for information regarding a topic or event. In addition, the discussions become more important as search engines such as Google rely on this ‘social data’ for content and rankings. We’re doing a ‘soft launch’ of our Social Media Compass™ reports, which provide expert summaries of the content and digital influencers important in understanding life science events and topics. Visit the link above to learn more, and look at the example ASM 2011 Social Media Compass (PDF). Our soft launch allows you to get in on the ground floor and tell us what you’re interested in monitoring, fill out the form on the product page and we’ll get started tracking events, topics, or brands.

You may have seen our announcement a few months ago here about the web 2.0 application we built with New England Biolabs (NEB). We formally announced it with them today, check out the press release for more information and contact us with any questions. NEB is a fantastic company to work with and we are getting great traction on EpiExperts, please check it out and let us know what you think!

Comprendia was founded in June of 2008, and we’ve had three great years. We’d like to thank our clients and supporters with what we think will be a fun way to give out 50 $15 prizes. We’re also giving an extra $50 to the person who refers the most people to the survey, so you can win up to $65!

Here’s how you can win. We created an uber short survey for both life scientists and those who provide products to them. We’re going to challenge you a little and learn about what you like. There are two ways you can find the survey:

1. Scan the QR code in this blog post, it will link directly to the survey. QR codes appear to be all the rage in marketing these days, but we’re not sure how many of you will go to the trouble to scan. To find a scanner, check out your phone’s app store. Once you start looking for QR codes, you’ll see them everywhere, and you’ll have the app to start scanning.
2. Check in to the Comprendia 3rd Anniversary Jubilee event on Foursquare and the link can be found in the ‘Tips’ (if you live in San Diego, you should be able to find on your phone).

Comprendia branded Moleskine notebooks are one of the prizes we’ll give to the first 50 people who qualify for and finish the survey (the large ruled, click on the image above to see detail). We think they are pretty spiffy, if you’ve never used a Moleskine before, I highly suggest them. They are very high quality and actually ‘make’ you want to write! If you aren’t into writing, we’re also offering $15 Amazon.com gift cards for participants.

We’ll keep track of how many from the scientist and company side take the survey and how they got to the link. Check back at comprendia.com/jubilee to see who’s on top! It will be interesting to see if participants find either option easier, and if there is a difference between the two groups.

Remember that you can win an extra $50–share this post, your Foursquare check in, or put the QR code on your blog and ask people to say they heard it from you. Good luck!

Table last updated: 7/5/2011

Current top referrer: Angela Alexander aka @flutesud

We’ll use the information we collect to help companies serve life scientists better, contact us if you’re interested in hearing about the results.

To share this post easily, cut and paste: Comprendia’s Third Anniversary Jubilee, Win Up To $65! http://comprendia.com/jubilee

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

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

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.

We’re very excited about our recent beta launch of a new web 2.0 resource for life science researchers at the American Association for Cancer Research Meeting (AACR) this week. Engaging Epigenetics Experts (E3) is being developed with New England Biolabs (NEB), leading provider of molecular biology solutions. We built the application using our STIR Social Media™ system to ensure that it will meet the needs of life science researchers and thus be adopted by them and grow. Epigenetics is a fast-growing, interdisciplinary field studying the way environment changes genetic information, and we created a Social Media Charter™ for NEB, working closely with them and benefiting from their knowledge of their customers and the science.

In meeting the needs of epigenetics researchers, NEB will better be better positioned in this competitive market, and they’ll also gain from getting product development feedback from the researchers. We applaud NEB for having a long-range view of these new applications, and know that they will pay off soon. Our Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshop April 14th will describe the STIR Social Media system in detail, helping you to learn how to leverage these new tools effectively.

To share this post easily cut and paste: Beta Launch of Engaging Epigenetics Experts at American Association for Cancer Research Meeting #aacr http://bit.ly/epi_lau

Just a quick note to let you know that our Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshop series is starting again with a Workshop 1 interactive webinar April 14th. Also our Twitter Workshop is now available on demand. We hope to help you meet your goals in 2011 with social media workshops specific for life science and biotechnology, contact us if you want more information or require customized training.

A recent survey of life science marketers found that 52% plan to increase their level of new and social media advertising in 2011. The study, conducted by life science consulting firm Comprendia LLC, was comprised of thirty-three respondents working in the non-FDA regulated sector, dealing with products for research use only. When asked which social media applications were most utilized, Twitter and Facebook were the top results, with 58% and 39% using them daily or one or two times a week, respectively. Respondents indicated that social media monitoring is also prevalent, with more than 60% indicating they track mentions of their brand on social networks. The long term effects of these trends are unclear, but it is possible that increased interaction between these life science companies, their customers, and independent science communicators portends the development of better products and increased progress in biotechnology research.

These results indicate a shift from traditional, broadcast marketing such as print advertisements and even online banners to new, more engaging methods such as social networks and blogs. Are life science marketers fully ready for this drastic change, which involves much more engagement with their scientific customers? When asked how they’d create the additional content needed for new and social media, 67% of life science marketers indicated that their existing staff would allocate time. Anticipating this unreasonable expectation, respondents were also asked about partnering with existing websites such as science blog aggregators. Initial interest in collaborating with existing entities was low, but respondents indicated a willingness to work with web 2.0 sites such as Benchfly, LabSpaces, Science 3.0 and Scientopia, and events such as ScienceOnline.

The results of the survey were presented at the ScienceOnline 2011 conference in January, where several involved in the ‘science 2.0’ movement expressed interest in working with life science companies. These blogs and sites are filling an important niche as scientific content is becoming scarce on traditional sources such as newspapers. Some bloggers expressed concern with corporate content intermingling with their own, an issue that does not exist with traditional media where distinctions between editorial and advertising content are usually clear. However, ideas for creating new boundaries emerged from discussions at the conference, and all of the findings from the meeting and this report can be found at http://comprendia.com/lifesciencesm Support from life science companies could bolster the independent science entities, resulting in more scientific information being disseminated to the general public via these routes. Company representatives, bloggers, or writers who are interested in participating should fill out this form.

Mary Canady, Founder of Comprendia, said “Life science companies appear eager to embrace social media, and it is clear that forming close partnerships with independent science entities such as blogging networks and open science conferences are necessary. New advertising models that will meet the companies’ needs while not sacrificing the integrity of the science communicators will result in a collaborative environment benefiting all involved.”

Comprendia is a California-based LLC which develops social media marketing plans for life science and biotechnology companies. Comprendia is actively implementing related strategies and tactics in a variety of projects and also provides monthly life science social media workshops and customized training. Based on the results of the survey, we’ll begin with a Twitter Workshop March 10th.

Want to know what life science marketers are doing about social media and how you can keep up? Take our short survey and be the first to get the report in a few weeks:

http://bit.ly/lifescismsurvey

Note that it is intended for people involved in the marketing and sales of non-FDA regulated products (e.g., products sold to the research market).

Contact us with any questions and feel free to distribute to your marketing, BD, management or sales colleagues (functions vary due to size of company).