What is a Social Network - Essay Example

What is a social network?A social network describes an online platform that provides services that facilitate the establishment of social relations between people, who might for example share real life connections, interests, and even backgrounds. These platforms have become increasingly popular and continue to be extensively utilised within the healthcare in modern times. This is mainly because the platforms not only enable the creation of relationships, but they also provide quick communication methods through which many people can be reached within the shortest time possible.

Within the healthcare sector the social media has been effective in the creation of relationships like patient-physician engagement, physician-physician collaboration and has also been a marketing tool for the healthcare institutions (Thielst, 2010).Despite the very many advantages that healthcare institutions have gained from social media usage, there are also some negative elements which are associated to the dependence on this form of communication. The utilisation of social media exposes the organisation to various threats within the context of IT.

The lack of control for the communication makes the information being conveyed to be risky as the source cannot be clearly ascertained and malicious attacks can also be undertaken through the social media.It has, therefore, become important for health care institution to implement strong policies on social media use. Adherence to these policies by the healthcare professionals remains important because it minimises the risk which the social media exposes the organisation (Banerjee, 2015). For healthcare professionals these policies become the guidelines that could be relied upon the eliminating the legal risk associated with social media threats within the healthcare sector.

This enables the professional to maintain their professionalism within the working environment.ReferencesBanerjee, S. (2015). Prioritizing Decision Alternatives for Social Media Planning. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(s4), 293–298.Thielst, C. B. (2010). Social Media in Healthcare. Chichester: Health Administration Press.