A recent study showed 1/6th of the internet fraternity chooses internet for health information. This conveys a clear message that e-patients are steadily becoming self-reliant. That is an additional advantage for social media in the healthcare industry.

Every coin has two sides. With every positive side, there comes negative side too and this holds true for social media as well. However, constant engagement of the users may decrease the negative impact.

In general, the more specific and strategic you can get with your social media marketing plan, the more effective you'll be in its implementation. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, there's so much you can do in the way of marketing and creating new opportunities for yourself while adding tremendous value to your clients, customers and readers. Don't make your social media marketing strategy so lofty and broad that it's unattainable. Balance is key. Always keep your customers and audience in mind. A good business objective will guide your actions, but it will also be a measure by which you determine whether you're succeeding or failing.

The truth is that we have come an extremely long way in a relatively short amount of time, technologically speaking. Of course, that is a good thing. It is hard to believe that not too many years ago, it was uncommon to be given a computer at work. At that time, everything was done on paper and, if we were lucky, the computer would supply supporting information for whatever we were working on. Now, people, young and old, don't know what they would do without relying on some sort of device.

When it comes to social media, in so many ways, it is brilliant and revolutionary. However, that doesn't mean that human interactions should be sacrificed as a result. Social media is a vehicle that allows you to be creative and to feel comfortable in that creativity. It gives you the opportunity to express yourself in ways that you may not have done before.

Over and over again, you have probably read that your online social relationships will only succeed if you put the other person's needs and wants before your own. That means that if you start out the conversation addressing the other person's issues, you stay on topic. You should not allow the conversation to come around to your wants and needs. There will be plenty of time for that to come later.

If you have been lucky enough to successfully start to develop a relationship with one of your online connections, be grateful and appreciative. Don't get greedy because it will not end well. If the person is willing to be a part of your relationship journey, be gracious about it. Let him or her set the boundaries. If you push too much, you may come up empty.

The fact is that you need to understand your subject matter intimately. However, you also need to know how to listen to the other person. In fact, in many cases, listening is even more important than speaking. Of course, in a relationship, you both get to speak and you both get to listen. Obviously, your relationship must be mutual or it isn't a true relationship.

Whatever you do, always be there for the other person. We have come way too far to sit around, staring at a screen (large or small), without connecting as human beings. Part of the appeal of being human is that the connections that you have with other people are warm and real.

Social media is here to stay. You will continue interacting online and will only increase your interactions over time. It is important to be introspective and to recognize when you have gotten into bad habits that you need to break. After all, you don't want to sit around after dinner, staring at a device instead of having exciting human interactions.