11 Qualities of a Good #HIT100 Nominee

A primary purpose of the #HIT100 event is to recognize individuals (and companies, although I disagree that companies should be included) that are leaders in curating and creating useful information on healthcare information technology.

Here’s what I look for in people I follow for information, news, ideas and tips on healthcare and healthcare information technology - on Twitter and elsewhere.

Qualities of a Good Health IT Resource

1. Is involved with some aspect of healthcare information technology, healthcare informatics and/or closely related products and services AND shares this involvement via social media.

There are many extremely knowledgeable, experienced and “high-level” health care information technology resources that rarely, if ever, share their knowledge via social media. I may follow these people but what good are they to me if they don’t share their knowledge unless I’m paying for it via a webinar, book or conference? 

2. Curates content on a topic or topics I care about.

"Content curation is not about collecting links or being an information pack rat, it is more about putting them into a context with organization, annotation, and presentation. Content curators provide a customized, vetted selection of the best and most relevant resources on a very specific topic or theme."

3. Remains somewhat focused on the topic of healthcare technology and related matters.

4. Creates original content and shares it - at least occasionally.

5. Comments on others tweets, blog posts and content - at least occasionally.

6. Retweets good content from others on a TIMELY basis.

One of social medias primary values is timeliness – particularly with Twitter. I really don’t want to read your tweet several days or weeks after I’ve learned about that particular topic from dozens of other sources.

7. Doesn’t clutter up my stream with lots of superfluous and useless chatter. An occasional tweet about something off-topic is fine and helps me understand and appreciate you and your personality.

8. Does not use Twitter as a chat room.

9. Avoids publicly thanking every single person who mentions them.

10. Avoids responding with “You’re welcome” to every person who thanks them.

11. Maintains their true personality and interacts with others on a down to earth basis.

Doesn’t hide their real personality just to be “politically correct” and avoid offending sensitive people.

I don't think a good #HIT100 nominee needs to have all of these qualities but should have at least 4 or 5 of them.