This just appeared in an article in "Cosmetic Surgery Times":
""Patients use social media to make surgery decisions
Publish date: Feb 16, 2012
By: Bill Gillette
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Alexandria, Va. — Last year, more patients sought out social networking sites — rather than friends — for advice and information on facial plastic surgery before choosing a procedure, a new survey suggests.
A survey conducted by the Alexandria-based American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery showed that 42 percent of patients receive most of their information about plastic surgery from social media, as compared with 2010’s 29 percent, MSNBC.com reports. Meanwhile, the percentage of patients who obtained information from friends fell to 48 percent, from 63 percent the previous year.""
Now I have been fighting the urge/trend to use social media to promote my practice for last three years. Having been in Naples for 22 years, I have over 25,000 patients. I can honestly say that more than 99% are happy patients. I always believed a friends recommendation is the most important thing, but now I may be wrong. Seems people are asking their "Social Network" or "the crowd" who to go to for aesthetic surgery! Oh well, live and Learn and "like me" on Facebook!