PURPOSE
their friends and followers about important topics . I began to see how powerful Facebook could be .
In a few short months , I lived to eat my words . Not only am I on Facebook . I have a personal page and a fan page for my book , HONEST MEDICINE . And on my two pages combined I have nearly 5000 friends and followers . But popularity — or lack of it — is not the point of Facebook for me . The point is that I find it one of the most powerful ways to get important messages out to the public . And the more passionate one is about one ’ s message , the better Facebook is as an avenue for disseminating it .
There are several ways to do this .
Some of my Facebook friends link to articles on their own websites and blogs to spread their important messages . For instance , Dana Trentini , who suffered a miscarriage because her thyroid wasn ’ t being properly managed by her doctors , educates other women about the proper care of thyroid disease through her blog , Hypothyroidmom . com . Then , she shares her blog postings with her 900,000 + followers on her Facebook page of the same name . An average post of Dana ’ s gets several thousand “ shares ,” and even more “ likes .” Ditto , Mary Shomon , also a thyroid patient advocate who , with Dana , has written a book , Your Healthy Pregnancy with Thyroid Disease . Mary has two thyroid websites : her verywell . com ( formerly about . com ) site , and her personal thyroid site . Her Facebook page has over 100,000 followers .
In a few short months , I lived to eat my words . Not only am I on Facebook . I have a personal page and a fan page for my book , HONEST MEDICINE .
It is primarily by sharing their extremely thought-provoking blog posts about thyroid disease on Facebook that both women get the most traction for their ideas . Others who share their important messages on Facebook include the man I refer to as “ my favorite whistleblower ,” Wendell Potter , author of Deadly Spin : An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans . Wendell was Vice President of Corporate Communications for CIGNA , one of the most powerful insurance companies . In that capacity , he was a cheerleader for an industry he later came to realize was interested in profits over patients . He resigned in 2008 . His tell-all book became a New York Times bestseller . But Wendell decided not to rest on his bestselling-author laurels . He is a guest columnist for the Huffington Post and other publications , and was — and still is — interviewed on countless mainstream radio and television programs , speaking about the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act , as well as other insurance industry-related issues .
And how does Wendell promote his writings and media appearances ? Through Facebook , of course . Many people ( including me ) share his articles , as well as links to his media interviews , thus helping to spread his important message . Lots of other people use Facebook in a similarly educational way . I ’ ll just mention a few here : Ronald Hoffman , MD educates the public about integrative medicine ; nutritionist Jeanne Wallace , about nutritional treatments for cancer ; Martha Rosenberg , about the pharmaceutical industry and gun lobby ; and Ann Fonfa , about integrative treatments for cancer . ( Ann has an important website , AnnieAppleseedProject . org , too .)
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