The news headline I saw this morning wasn't exactly an attention-getter: "FDA Asked To Restrict Drug Marketers' Use Of Social Media".
While that headline doesn't seem too alarming in and of itself, it does have some important implications for us as consumers.
The news is that a consumer advocacy group is asking the FDA to prohibit pharmaceutical companies from advertising on social media platforms that don't allow them to fully explain their drug products.
For example, let's look at how birth control pills (which ironically celebrated their 50th anniversary this past Mother's Day) would be affected.
The target demographic of these pills are typically frequent social media users, so social networks like Facebook and Twitter would be a natural fit for advertising.
However, Twitter's 140 character limit per tweet means that a birth control pill company would most likely have to split all of the necessary medical information about their particular product into multiple tweets.
But if a consumer only happens to read one of these tweets, they run the risk of using a medicinal product without having all of the information.
This is why the FDA is looking into banning pharmaceutical advertising on social platforms that have word limits like Twitter.
And although I do agree this possible new restriction is probably in everyone's best interests, I think the health care industry should also burden some of the responsibility and adopt more social media usage to help keep consumers informed and up to date on issues like this.
