Clearly, the explosion of social media use has changed the way almost all business and organizations communicate with customers, employees and the general public. According to a recent study by Arbitron Inc. and Edison Research Inc., approximately half of all Americans have a social-media profile, and approximately 46 million Americans check their social media profiles each day. Tom Webster, The Social Habit II: The Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Study 2011 (2011), available at www.slideshare.net/webby2001/the-social-habit-2011-by-edison-research; Jeff Esposito, Social Media Stats for the C-Suite, Social Media Today, June 27, 2011.
But it might be surprising to learn that 80% of Americans who use the Internet (or roughly 60% of all Americans) use it to search for health information, according to a Pew Internet study. ABC News Radio, "One in Four Tracks Health Data Online, Survey Finds," May 12, 2011, available through Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project at www.pewinternet.org/Media-Mentions/2011/One-in-Four-Tracks-Health-Data-Online.aspx.
