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In October 2011, Visible Technologies, a social media analytics firm, released the results of a survey examining the prevalence of content on blogs, social networks, Twitter and other social sites focusing on drug side effects or adverse events. The Visible Technologies study is the latest in a line of research designed to determine the prevalence of adverse event content in social media.  Some pharmaceutical companies have cited fear of adverse events as a major reason they have not engaged in more aggressive social media marketing.  The Food and Drug Administration requires drug firms to report adverse events to the agency.

Before outlining the results of the Visible Technologies study, it would be instructive to discuss previous studies focusing on the prevalence of adverse events in social media.

• Nielsen Finds Adverse Events Few, Far Between in Social Media: In 2008, Nielsen conducted an analysis of 500 healthcare-related postings across a variety of disease categories and social media sites and found that only "one message incorporated the information needed to meet all four of the FDA’s AE reporting requirements."  A follow up study published in 2009 found similar results.
• Creation Healthcare Research Indicates Social Media Sites Filled With Spam, Adverse Events:  In contrast to the Nielsen studies, Creation Healthcare research published in 2010 indicates that social media is filled with spam and adverse event reports.
  

Visible Technologies Research Methodology and Major Results

According to a white paper published by the firm, Visible Technologies "conducted [the study] over a 30-day period.  Social media data was tracked, collected and analyzed containing brand mentions for 224 major pharmaceutical brands. Brands studied included 71 over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and 153 prescription-only (Rx) medications."  The company examined discussions for the following types of products: 

• OTC Medications: Antacids, Decongestants
• Rx Medications: Statins, Antihypertensives

Visible Technologies Study Methodology
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Overall, Visible Technologies found that discussion of adverse events was low for all drug classes and product categories: "Only 3.3 percent of all branded social media posts using terms and phrases associated with an AE are actually discussing an AE (see chart below)."

Adverse Event Reports in Social Media
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Study Could Be Limited By Drug Classes/Therapeutic Areas Selected

As indicated above Visible Technologies selected Rx drug brands in the antihypertensive and anti-cholesterol categories.  However, selecting these drug classes may have limited the study.  This is because: 

• The Proportion of Online Conversations May Be Low:  According to an analysis published by NMIncite in September 2011, the people are much more likely to discuss topics like fibromyalgia and depression than cardiovascular disease in social media.
• Adverse Event Discussions May Be Higher in Other Disease States:  Creation Healthcare analyzed adverse event discussions by disease type.  They found that side effect conversations were much more likely to take place in mental health, cancer and arthritis social media.

By selecting a drug Rx category with a lower prevalence of social media content and amount of adverse event-related conversation Visible Technologies may have limited the utility of the research for many pharmaceutical marketers.