twrama 1990_final oc.. - AMA WA

FROM THE EDITOR
AMA (WA) advances into
social media space
Perhaps this is news that should be on the cover of
this month’s Medicus because it will certainly change
the way you see your Association. Just a few days ago,
Australian Medical Association (WA) president Dr Richard
Choong officially launched the AMA (WA) Facebook page
and our Twitter feed.
As a President who already has a strong Facebook
presence, Dr Choong said it was time for the AMA (WA) to
develop its online offerings to members.
“This is an excitement development and one that I
have been waiting to see for some time. With more than a
billion people with personal Facebook pages – and rising –
while Twitter is growing at an incredible pace and is used
by millions to get their news and views to others, it was
important that we increase our standing in this form of
communication,” Dr Choong said.
“Not to enter the social media world would be a
disservice to our members and to the future of the AMA in
our fast developing state.
“This is the future of communication and we have to
be in this social media space. This is not a new way of
communicating; it has been with us for almost a decade, has
already had a tremendous impact in wars, revolutions and
policy developments and will continue to do so.”
The AMA (WA)’s social media presence will be an
additional source of information to our website (www.
amawa.com.au) and of course Medicus, which continues to
grow, both in page numbers and impact.
The decision to enter the “social media world” was not
a difficult one, mainly because that is where our members
increasingly are making their presence felt. More and more,
our members are getting their news not from the daily “old”
media but from online news sources.
Twitter itself is regarded as a news source. During a
recent conference at the United Nations in New York
on the day there was a multiple shooting just down the
street outside the Empire State Building and I watched in
amazement as the Twitter feed filtered through the room as
the news cascaded from person to person. Second by second
the news came through about the event that was happening
just down the street. As each tweet came through, the
heads of conference participants would look down,
virtually as one.
Prior to Twitter and similar applications, we relied on
the web to provide our members information about their
Association. Prior to that of course, we relieved on the slow
(sometimes extremely slow) postal service and before that,
word of mouth was relied on to pass information around the
community.
So in many ways, social media and the internet is just
another way to pass on information, certainly faster but no
more dangerous, suspicious or evil.
I am reminded that before the introduction of television
in Australia in 1956 the then Menzies Government formed
a Royal Commission into the new-fangled thing. At the time
it was thought the powers of a full Royal Commission were
needed to get to the bottom of what television really was and
what threats it posed to the generally somnolent community
of the 1950s.
Some of the evidence given to the Commission was of
the most fearful order imaginable – suggestions of mind
control, of socialist (or even communist) domination. This
was despite many countries having fared fairly well with
television for some years.
Of course, TV was introduced to Australia and has
had many positive – along with one or two negative –
impacts. Overall however our community is a better
educated more democratic and entertained society as a
result of TV.
Such has been the reaction to social media by some in
the community that I fear a similar nervousness about
the impact of what is, in effect, just another way of
communicating with each other.
For more information about our entry into the social
media sphere, please go to the AMA (WA) website to
click through to both our Facebook page (please feel
free become a friend) and Twitter (feel free to become a
follower). We look forward to welcoming you. ■
October MEDICUS 3