Nov 13, 2009, 09:03 by Greystone Administrator

I don’t know if that’s really news, but sometimes you need the data to back up what you know to be true. In this case, a presentation today at Ad:Tech will report the results of a joint study by Performics, the marketing arm of Publicis Groupe's VivaKi Nerve Center, and ROI Research, an analytics and technology firm. Just one glimpse of the results: “30% admitted to learning about a product, service or brand on a social network site. 27% say they remain receptive to receiving invitations for events, special offers or promotions from advertisers through the sites, and 25% admit to going directly to an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a product or service on Facebook, Twitter or another social site.” If you’ve spent much time in the world of social media, I doubt you’ll find those numbers especially shocking. Many of us have requested – and received – recommendations on vendors, stores, restaurants, and even doctors via the same tools and venues where we share everything else:  social media. What are they saying about your hospital and doctors?  What are you saying about your hospital and doctors?