Perhaps too Early?
By Darrell K. Pruitt; DDS
Something strange has happened to www.DentalBlogs.com I think they have partially shut down their Facebook account. They no longer feature original articles such as those by Dr. Rhonda Savage and Ms. Linda Miles, and in the last couple of weeks, they eliminated their collection of photos. Now the site only features ads and press releases. Does anyone else wonder what happened? Sure you do! This is exciting.
Perhaps Re-Tooling
Unless they are just re-tooling this weekend, I suspect that since their previous format was biased heavily in favor of advertising dollars in a tough economy, their funding simply dried up. Like so many other advertising-related careers, the dinosaur found it couldn’t compete in a 2.0 market. Nevertheless, today I did learn something important from the DentalBlogs Wall: The ADA has opened a Facebook account.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/American-Dental-Association/32252997166?ref=mf
Such transparency is inspirational
When I announced this news on Twitter a few hours ago (“Proots”), neither the ADA nor the TDA had yet told membership. Yea, I scooped them on their in-house news. It happens all the time. Naturally, I became a fan of the ADA Facebook. When I joined, there were already 1205 fans, even though the site is yet operational. I found that intriguing because it usually takes a long time for most FBs to attain 1200 fans – especially when all one can gather is the mission statement of the ADA’s newest Internet site.
My View
Here’s what I see: About the time DentalBlogs laid off employees from their fully active Facebook, the ADA opened theirs (Gasp)! The ADA was well known to DentalBlogs because the ADA once advertised with them regularly. That is where I found an article about the ADA-approved CareCredit/GE that ended up causing problems for some people and entertainment for others. Let’s face it, friends. I just know that I’m not the only dentist in the nation with at least two burning questions. I bet at least 4 others are wondering who were the first seven fans to sign up for the ADA Facebook and Has Kim Volk, CEO of DDPA signed up yet?
Because the number of fans is rapidly piling up, such information from a few weeks (?) ago could soon be just too difficult to uncover from the fans list on the ADA site. It took a long time for me to scroll down through 1200 names – looking for those I recognize (Gasp)!
Scrolling Quickly, but Carelessly
I could have easily missed several easily recognizable names in contemporary dentistry, but as far as I can tell, not only was Delta Dental Plans Association CEO Kim E. Volk’s name not present in the list of 1200 fans, but there were very few names I recognized … and I’m sorry if I insulted anyone. I also did not see “Ron Tankersley” and other ADA officials’ names on the fans list. Didn’t the ADA try partial transparency like this once before? I may be wrong, but I think I played a role in shutting it down a few years ago with my persistent and still unanswered questions about the NPI number.
More Semi-Reliable Information
Here’s another bolus of semi-reliable information: I also quickly scrolled through DentalBlog’s list of 400 fans and did not notice an unusual amount of matches with the ADA Facebook fans list.
Those who dare to do so, might just ask, “So if the ADA fans didn’t come from dentalblogs, where did they come from?” I think one possibility is that the ADA effort has been in Beta and limited to a select group of people up until now. Doesn’t it seem strange that nobody is able to post anything? Did someone open the doors a few hours early? So who were the first 7 fans? No, you don’t have to scroll down to find out for yourself. I’ll tell you.
Who is John Hergert?
The first person to become a fan of the ADA Facebook account is named John Hergert from Chicago, Illinois.
2nd – Laurie Rich
3rd – Amy Lund
4th – Kelsey Majors
5th – Jessica Stevens
6th – Samantha Campbell
7th – Lina Kulkormi
I don’t recognize any of the seven, and I have not searched anyone’s name other than John Hergert’s – the first person to become a fan of the ADA Facebook. I found someone named John Hergert in Chicago, Illinois who is Associate Vice President at Lipman Hearne Inc. – an advertising agency.
http://www.spoke.com/info/p6JVgPy/JohnHERGERT.
Here is the bio of the person I only suspect is the first to become a fan of the ADA Facebook.
John Hergert’s Biography
John Hergert Associate Vice President John Hergert has a keen understanding of what it takes to capture and hold the attention of marketing audiences via innovative marketing techniques. Formerly Associate Director of Marketing Communications at DePaul University in Chicago, John works with both traditional and interactive media to design and implement marketing strategies that build a client’s image, increase support, and grow enrollment or attendance. John’s experience includes developing ROI-based marketing strategies for a variety of nonprofit and for-profit clients. Prior to DePaul, John was an account executive overseeing marketing and advertising strategy, web development, direct mail, print production, and promotional development for clients including Disney, Marconi, Owens Corning, and Reynolds. John began his marketing career while at the University of Wisconsin, where he was hired by a Los Angeles firm to implement cutting-edge marketing programs for Saturn and Trek Bicycle Corporation. John received his B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin and his Master of Science in Information Systems from DePaul University.”
Assessment
What do you want to bet that the ADA Facebook is Mr. Hergert’s baby?
Conclusion
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Filed under: "Doctors Only", Career Development, Ethics, Op-Editorials, Pruitt's Platform | Tagged: ADA, Amy Lund, CareCredit, Darrell Pruitt, DDPA, delta dental, DentalBlogs, GE, Jessica Stevens, John Hergert, Kelsey Majors, Kim Volk, Laurie Rich, Lina Kulkormi, Linda Miles, NPI, Rhonda Savage, Ron Tankersley, Samantha Campbell
The ADA’s new Facebook is very popular, but why? … Nothing’s there.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Dental-Association/32252997166?ref=mf
I find it incredible that the dinosaur organization continues to defy good business sense as if it were a protected species. If I were an ADA Vice President in charge of electronic media, I’d encourage my editor to aggressively grab all of the market share we could while the grabbin’s good. Whimsical customers who might turn to the AGD are begging right now to hear from the ADA. Dinosaurs don’t get second chances as great as this, and the ADA is letting credibility slip right through its slow, clumsy fat hands.
I invite you to follow me, ADA members. Let me show you what’s been happening with the upkeep on our lease while we weren’t paying attention. Wear old shoes. It’s a mess.
Almost 2 weeks ago, when I joined the ADA Facebook, I was fan number 1206. As of today, the ADA Facebook has attracted 1371 fans. Since I’ve started following its popularity, it has averaged over 90 new fans a week. Considering the only thing to read is the rapidly growing list of fans, the ADA Facebook is experiencing a surprisingly successful silent start.
If the ADA Facebook has been quietly attracting what appears to be intense interest since it opened, extrapolation of the recent pace suggests that the social network site has been functioning in some form since at least July. More than likely though, those who are paid with ADA dues to produce the site – both inside and outside the ADA – have been busy testing the Facebook applications in Beta much longer than that. I would guess it’s been open for about a year. It will be interesting when an ADA editor explains to us things like how the test subjects were selected. That could be sooner than the editor’s boss wishes.
From what I witnessed today, I think at least one high-ranked ADA official in Chicago fears allowing their new Facebook account to open – specifically because of the transparency it brings with it (when I’m around). Today, ADA Electronic Media Editor Laurie Rich read my name in a message I sent her on Facebook, and someone panicked.
To support my tale, allow me to begin by pointing out what accountability in a competitive business environment does for customer service. Did you know that I or anyone else can walk into any Wal-mart in numerous countries around the world, ask to speak to any employee’s boss and be afforded that right immediately and without question? And I don’t even own stock in Wal-mart.
Now let’s compare Wal-mart’s service with how the ADA treats its customers. Starting long ago, I’ve posted numerous concerns on the “ADA Member Email Forum.” I’ve tediously documented that when I ask ADA employees easy questions, I receive response ¼ of the time. And when my questions are more critical, nobody in the ADA acknowledges my visits (See “Transparency and the ADA – a dissecting experiment” 2/22/09).
http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/transparency-and-the-ada-a
What’s more, during numerous moments of justifiable frustration over the last couple of years, I’ve also been ignored when I’ve asked an anonymous ADA employee on the other end of my unanswered emails the name of his or her boss. I think you will see why as of a few hours ago, I suspect ADA editor Laurie Rich’s boss was somehow involved in the decision to insult an ADA member. Laurie recognized my name.
Compared to Wal-mart’s service, what does that say for the value I receive for the dues I’ve been paying to the ADA for almost 30 years? It’s no wonder our leaders can’t afford to raise the price of membership. If the ADA was accountable to consumers in a free market it would either have to charge less or go out of business. The ADA is not unlike another fat, threatened species: DDPA member dental insurance companies.
As described in an article I posted on the Medical Executive-Post last week titled “ADA opens a Facebook – Perhaps too Early?” I studied the only item available on the ADA site: The growing list of fans.
http://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/ada-opens-a-facebook/
That was when I discovered that the first of 1200 fans of the ADA Facebook was someone named John Hergert, who I suspect is the marketing consultant who works for the Chicago company that won the contract to set up the ADA’s Facebook account. I also mentioned in the ME-P article the names of six more fans who followed Hergert. The second person to join was Laurie Rich.
This morning, I clicked on Laurie’s public Facebook site and left this message:
“Dear Laurie, Can you tell me when the ADA Facebook will open?”
When Laurie had not responded a little while later, I returned to her Facebook to invite her to be my friend – just like my invitation to DDPA CEO Kim E. Volk a month ago. That’s when I discovered that Laurie Rich has blocked me from accessing even her public Facebook site.
Not unexpectedly, Kim E. Volk ignored my invitation to friendship, but she hasn’t yet blocked me from her public page.
I take Wal-mart’s courtesy for granted because they actually want my business. But I would have never thought that the CEO of Delta Dental would treat me with more respect than ADA Media Editor Laurie Rich.
Extinction is always a possibility if a dinosaur can’t adapt to the changing climate quick enough.
D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS
Kim E. Volk, today is Friday the 13th
I’ve been told that my lack of professionalism embarrasses anonymous dentists. Is that true? If so, do you think I care?
I posted this note to the CEO of DDPA on the Just Fans section of Delta’s Advance Oral Health Facebook. I bet she’s read it a couple of times already.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Advance-Oral-Health/116240205341
Dear Kim E. Volk, CEO of Delta Dental Plans Association:
Please forgive me for getting directly to the point, Ms. Volk, but how important are life’s goals to you? To achieve the esteemed stature that you’ve earned, you are obviously a dedicated and driven professional – well-respected and loved by many friends, both inside and outside your career. I like to think you and I are more alike than different, and that ultimately, our goals can not only coexist, but can be mutually empowered by cooperation today, not tomorrow. Would you be interested in helping me achieve my humble goal? I think improvement in the nation’s dental care is as easy as marketplace conversation. What could it hurt? Silence isn’t helping anyone, and is obsolete as a corporate defense strategy anyway. We’re in a small town, Ms. Volk. Around here, people talk casually with each other. It takes some getting used to.
My name is D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS, and I practice in Fort Worth, Texas. Though you and I have never met, or even exchanged words, one can easily see that when one googles your name (when you google your name), my comments occupy almost your entire first page. You should know by now that I too am dedicated, and that I will not be ignored.
I back with my name that mine is a noble cause, and that inevitable transparency will arrive quicker and less painfully if both of us work together – not against each other. If you’re not interested in conversation, maybe a representative from BCBS, UnitedHealth, United Concordia or one of your other competitors, is.
I think it’s time you and I talked, and I can think of no better place to discuss how Delta’s policies affect dental patients and their homes than right here in the “fans only” section of Delta Dental’s Advance Oral Health Facebook. If you would prefer to meet on a more powerful venue, our options are limitless, and I’ve prepared the way. Regardless, you and I could quickly draw a crowd of townfolk just about anywhere because of the precedence. My top choices would be the rapidly growing Medical Executive-Post, or my own Pruitt’s Platform that is featured on the PennWell Forum and Blog. The American Way of Dentistry Facebook seems to be another progressive site, and then there’s the ADA Facebook that will open any day now (it already has over 1400 fans). I think most ADA members would agree that our conversation would be a spectacular way to kick off the grand opening of the ADA Facebook.
As a matter of fact, I think if I could bring you along, the Texas Dental Association Facebook would welcome me back. Our conversation on that venue could directly help Delta’s business in Texas because so far, TDA leaders are selectively shielding BCBSTX from dentists’ complaints – thereby giving them a market advantage in a state they already dominate.
Or you may have a venue you prefer. All you have to do is whisper, and you’ll be heard (but no phone calls, please).
May I suggest this topic as an easy icebreaker: The McCarran Ferguson Act of 1945 – Should it be repealed?
I’ll look forward to your reply, Kim E. Volk.
Sincerely,
D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS
Darrell,
It is the anonymous dentists that should be embarrassed over their anonymity.
Brad
Thanks for your encouragement, Brad.
Like other malleable buzzwords in dentistry, those in power determined long ago that the exalted noun “professionalism” means whatever they damn well need it to mean. Traditionally, American-made command-and-control dental leaders have silenced troublemakers like me by shaming them into default banishment from the organization with summary, binding verdicts of “unprofessionalism.”
I’m far from the first to justifiably complain about the good ol’ boy ethics that permeates the ADA, including my state organization, the Texas Dental Association. I’m just the first dentist in the nation to have success at using Internet platforms to hold both employed and elected leaders personally accountable for committee-blessed, organic, boneheaded decisions based on bad information from biased sources inside and outside the ADA.
It is coming up on the fourth year anniversary of the evening I discussed my questions about HIPAA with my designated state-level ADA representative. He wished me luck, but told me I am on my own … and that I was unprofessional.
Even though so far I’m making incredibly slow progress, I’m comfortable accepting that I have made a difference in a good way.
Thanks again, Brad.
Darrell