Social Media Is Quicksand. Better Wear Your "Swimmies!"

My Twitter pal @PhilBaumann made a comparison between social media and quicksand in his blog. "What I’m saying is this," said Phil, "you can learn to swim in quick sand. But you’ll drown if you think you’re walking on solid ground. Sometimes assuming the worst can help you understand and see what’s best." See "What If Social Media Was Called Quick Sand" to get the point Phil was trying to make, which is be aware of what's below the surface.

Regardless of the point that Phil was trying to make, his statement immediately conjured up an image in my mind, which having nothing better to do, I created in Photoshop and posted here on the left.

In reply to Phil's comment, I tweeted  "You can't swim in quicksand, but you CAN dip your toe in. Exactly what pharma is doing in SM now."

What's MY point? You can dip your toe in social media and that's fine. You won't go under. But if you want to fully immerse yourself and start swimming in it, you better have "swimmies" such as guidelines from the FDA and some social media standard operating procedures and policies.