Facebook and Pharmaceutical Companies: An Industry in Need of Guidance

Companies across product categories are working to learn the nuances of social media as it continues to grow in popularity and wide spread adoption. Pharmaceutical companies are no different, except that they must also adapt government regulation and industry standards to the new medium, making the topic important for pharmaceutical companies, consumers, and policy makers. The paper outlines the use of one specific social media platform, Facebook, by three of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. In addition the paper includes an exploratory crossover study that examines consumer perceptions of the content on the different sites with regard to informative value, entertainment value, and learning. Results indicate that consumers perceive differences on all three variables. Open-ended responses are used to discuss some potential explanations for these differences.