Hospital for kids grows its audience via social media

Children’s Medical Center in Dallas uses Twitter, Facebook, and a blog to make connections and document successes

It’s not often one hears about hundreds of people gathering to witness a complete and successful pediatric kidney transplant, from its start with the donor at one hospital to its 3-year-old recipient at another.

But that’s just what happened early one morning last May.

The viewers didn’t travel with the kidney from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to an operating room at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, but saw the procedure chronicled on Twitter.

“A successful surgery wraps up at 2:30 p.m. CST,” announced the last tweet of the day. “Thank you all for tuning in, John is on his way to being a healthy, happy 3 year old.”

That live-tweeted surgery was the first step for Children’s toward implementing a comprehensive, five-year social media plan, says Betsy MacKay, vice president of public relations. And it was a huge success.

“It’s been a very hard act to follow,” she says. She and her staff of 32 are trying their best, however, adding Facebook, YouTube and a company blog to the mix.

A sense of urgency