Sharing to Feel Better

Sharing.  It’s a concept we all learn at a very young age.  Oftentimes reminisced as happening in the sandbox, we think back to our young selves giving up what we hold most dear (in this case, some cheap plastic toy) to allow someone else to benefit from it.  It seems so simple and obvious, but how many toddlers do you know that immediately give into the concept…easily handing over that toy without a moment of hesitation or a slight tug back or possibly the more extreme screaming tantrum?   Over time, what happens is that the more they share, the more they see it puts a smile on their friends’ face, or gives them something in common to “chat” about.

You don’t need to be clairvoyant to see where I’m going with this.  Sharing is at the core of PatientsLikeMe, and it’s what makes our communities so special.  More than 32,000 patients are online sharing something they hold dear — details about their health — so that others can see it, learn from it, and dialogue about it.  It’s truly inspirational and something we believe is transforming healthcare as we know it.

But sharing doesn’t have to stop there.  From a marketing perspective, one of the most widely used and successful viral tactics is the “Share This” button.  You see it everywhere online – blogs, news articles, videos, and more.  We just recently implemented it across our site, so patients can “Share This” or symptom report, press releases, research findings, etc.  It’s an easy way to pass that “toy” across the cyber-sandbox to others who might learn or benefit from it.

It’s nice every once in a while to think back to what we learned as kids and figure out a way to incorporate those values into our adult lives.  Sharing is just one of those things.

So you weren’t the type to share your toys?  Feel like you share too much?  Comments are welcome below.

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