MySpace is dead…long live Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.

I love it when the Industry collaborates…[i]n the same 24-hour period, Google announced a new, hugely–ambitious social networking hub and NewsCorp announced that they had finally found some poor sucker willing to take MySpace off their hands at a fraction of their asking price and a fraction of a fraction of what they originally paid for it six years ago.

Don’t laugh at the company’s downfall, though. Do keep in mind that MySpace’s misfortune is also the misfortune of its users. Specific Media didn’t just purchase a social networking service. They also bought a community of users and an immense pile of data about their habits and connections.

Waiting doom, good business move, or “agitprop” are begging the question whose stable is fuller? Reality checks:

MedicalQuack raise the issues of competing strategies and philosophies for health information exchange. One end of the spectrum is the PHR-movement, with Google Health and Microsoft’s HealthVault the front-runners. On the other end of the spectrum is the RHIO-movement, lead by insurers and governmental and non-governmental third-party providers. A fundamental question at play here is what should constitutes the individual’s health information silo? Should it reside in multiple entities relying on yet-to-be-build exchanges? Or should it reside in the individual’s silo where access is granted on a “need-to-know” basis? Aggregation and exchange versus distributed access, this will be an interesting and important contest to watch.

Interesting two announcements today: MedPedia and Knol. MedPedia is reminiscent of the start of eMedicine several years ago, an invaluable resource and a commercial property. eMedicine had its academic beginnings as well. Contrast that with Knol, which appears to be a director competitor or heir to Wikipedia. What I would want from both: authoritative content with an API that allows for mashups and device independence.

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DB’s rant:

[T]hose who champion P4P make an unfortunate assumption. They believe that you can push one button, and only impact the desired outcome. They are obsessed with measurement, and believe that measurement will improve health care. They are so dangerous.”

Brings to mind a phrase from the “Satisfaction Cult:”

they don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care

Complicit with this assertion is the measuring and elevation of subjective reporting to objective fact. What is missed, is an appreciation for the limitations of the english language — where “you” is both the second-person singular and plural pronoun. The “Satisfaction Cult” (and the strong P4P-adherents) see “you” as singular and all statistical scores and variances are singular in origin and causality. Wonder if “you” is plural? Then scores and variances are matters of plurality and causality is never found. Which “you” smacks of reality?

The wreck of the good ship, EMTALA

EMTALA must always be viewed in light of its unintended consequences and unintended expectations — “just go to the ER” is not a national healthcare policy!