A new service called Smatter is set to compete with the growing social network Twitter, but with a twist. Instead of limiting posts to 140 characters like Twitter, the new service will limit member posts to just 14.

“It’s our belief that you’ll get ten times the content value from posts that are one tenth the size,” says Smatter CEO Thomas Smidge.

The social media entrant will introduce a whole new vernacular as well. Instead of posting “tweets,” members will post “smatts,” forwarded posts will be called “resmatts” and group conversations will be “smatt-chats.” Read the full story »

National hospital rating firm MedRankers has announced new weekly awards for clinical quality. The weekly awards will replace the annual awards already in place, with additional categories and classifications also in the offing. 


“We’ve done patient surveys, and people have indicated that they can’t make informed decisions based on quality awards that are only given annually,” stated company spokesperson Cindy Hinky. “From our perspective, the more ways we can slice and dice quality rankings, the more information patients will have. If we can have 10 rankings, why not 100, or 1,000? More is always better.” Read the full story »

In response to the worsening economy, healthcare advertising agency Stedman, Trust and Devinshire (STD), New York, has announced a new promotion for hospitals and health systems: free consulting for life.

“For new clients who sign up with us before July 1, we’re offering to work for free for the life of the relationship,” said STD president David Pogilvy. “The margins are low – hell, they’re zero. But tough times call for tough action.”

According to Pogilvy, the agency will provide new clients with free marketing, PR, advertising and communications work, without any costs, for as long as the client remains active. The move comes in response to the ongoing budget cuts at hospital marketing departments, which were followed by discounts on services and offers of free consulting by other advertising and marketing firms. Read the full story »