How bad is it to post a fake Facebook profile?

[David Harlow]

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One issue up for discussion in this evening's free-form health care social media tweetchat was the fake Facebook page of eSara Baker, posted as a form of marketing for a company providing online health-related services (which sound like typical patient portal stuff like scheduling appointments and accessing test results). The page prominently states: "If you haven't uncovered our secret yet, here it is: Sara isn't a real person."

The identity of the company and the services provided are not at issue here. The issue discussed in the #hcsm tweetchat was whether using social media to market a health care service through the use of a fabricated profile was unethical and/or harmful to authentic uses of social media for health care.

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