Brainstorming TECH Conference, Day Two

Day two of the Fortune Magazine Brainstorming TECH conference started with an unforeseen development. Jeff Bezos, president of Amazon.com, and I have something in common: we both choose to attend the Future of Gaming roundtable. The roundtable brought together about 20 people, including folks from Electronic Arts, Phillip Rosendale, president of Linden Labs (creator of Second Life) and Bezos to discuss the future of gaming. I wonder if Amazon will get into the gaming business? Imagine, you could buy your book while you game (and maybe it could even be a game for health…that would be very interesting).

The most compelling part of the day centered on the social web. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.com, spoke about the way Facebook is propelling the social web forward. If Marc Benioff is correct, and the future of the web moves from collaboration to innovation (see my first post), creating a place for end users to connect will be invaluable. What I find so powerful and dynamic about Facebook is its ability to bring groups together around a particular issue or interest, and recently I’ve noticed Facebook’s role in bringing individuals together for social change. People are able to talk about what is important to them: from politics, to media, to being green.

Could health care advocates work together via Facebook for health care coverage, public health, and better quality of care? How could we use Facebook, and sites like Facebook, to support innovation in health and health care?

Here’s one possibility: Esther Dyson, who blogs on the Huffington Post, mentioned during a breakfast roundtable about web and relationships that she was going to make her personal health record public. This led me to think about whether people could place their personal health records on Facebook and friend (with certain privileges) their health providers.

A funny tidbit, when the audience was asked who had a Facebook page, almost everyone raised their hands. It looks like leaders in technology see the value in Facebook and are trying to integrate it into the success of their businesses. Is the health care industry next?

Comments

[Dick Dillon]

Chinwe, it's interesting that you mention Linden Lab's Phillip Rosedale in this posting, but the bulk of your posting is about Facebook. Not to minimize the potential of Facebook, but Second Life (LL's app) is fast becoming a platform of choice for many healthcare related initiatives. There are already virtual hospitals and medical clinics, mental health counselors and (as in my case) substance abuse prevention, education, and treatment providers, exploring the utility of 3D immersive virtual worlds. I hope to see more on this topic from you and others in the months to come!

You may recall a phone conversation I had with you several months ago which ultimately led to my participation in a brainstorming meeting (part of the RWJF Pioneering initiative project at U of Wisc.) with several addiction experts, regarding Second Life (as an example virtual world) and the potential for "getting things done" in this type of environment. A surprisingly large number of ideas were generated from this meeting, some of which should have great potential to solving real challenges we experience today in service delivery.

Thanks for this report!

DD

[THD]

At the conference - is there any discussion taking place on why there is not more uptake of innovation for health in the US? I know this is a very complex question, but there are simpler solutions that might be valuable. For example, like other areas in health, the US has lagged far behind other countries in adopting mobile phone applications. Also do you have any thoughts on why innovation for health is happening on the fringes of new tech applications like facebook and 2nd life.