Back in April, Leigh Fazzina, chair-elect of PRSA’s Health Academy, wrote in PRSAY of the dire need for long-promised and oft-delayed social-media guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. We’re still waiting.
A recent article in The Washington Post summed up the frustration that many in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors feel over their company’s use of social media. Headlined “Drug companies lose protections on Facebook, some decide to close pages,” the article told of one of the greatest challenges PR professionals in this sector face: knowing when and where it is appropriate — or legal — to communicate online with consumers.
After promising to release guidelines late last year, the FDA has yet to commit to an updated deadline. Understandably, this is leaving many frustrated. Unsure of what their companies’ next steps should be in the vastly growing and powerful social media space, they either go it alone or pull back, waiting for guidance.
Read the entire article at PRSAY.