It's a 21st century exchange, the process of waiting for your friendship to be made official. Old classmates, co-workers, even your mom. But your doctor?
"I do accept their friendship," said Dr. Sarah LoBisco, a Naturopathic Medicine Doctor from Ballston Spa.
"It's the fastest way to get to people and get them information," said Dr. Lobisco.
Dr. LoBisco blends conventional and integrative medicine. She does some of that through education and posting new information on Facebook and Twitter. Dr. Harvey Winter from Albany Dental Care does too.
"We use it sometimes to educate the patients, not all the time but most of the time just to let them know what we are doing," said Dr. Winter.
When one of the hygienists finished a course on Invisiline, that went up on Facebook. When we came to interview him for this story, that went up too. Our local doctors are tech savvy but not the only ones. Patients, clients and doctors are communicating this way all over the country.
"It gives us a little bit of a bond that's outside the whole doctor-patient relationship," said Leah Flannigan, a patient.
"I've had patients contact me where they're out of town and they hop on Twitter and they shoot me a quick question," said Dr. Andrew Schneider, a Podiatrist.
His Twitter answers are nothing compared to what Eye Surgeon Gregg Feinerman does. He has his assistants tweet updates during surgery.
"My family really liked the idea that they can receive updates on twitter about the surgery because they couldn't be with me in the operating room," said Tiffany Chi, a patient.
"We use a pseudonym so when their family looks it up on twitter they can identify which patient it is by the pseudonym used," said Dr. Feinerman.
It's cutting edge to post to these sites, but what about privacy? It's a fine line when you're blending healthcare with social media. Especially, when it comes to HIPA laws.
"Physicians haven't been traditionally taught on how to communicate with patients online. It's really not something that has been traditionally talked about in medical school," said Phil Baumann, a registered nurse and President of CareVocate, which helps corporations navigate social media waters. He suggests having a conversation with your doctor first, to make sure friendship is ok.
Our local doctors said that it is about balance and common sense.
"The thing about Facebook is you need to know the limitations you need to know what it's there for and what it's not," said Dr. Winter.
"If it gets real complicated and is longer than a couple of sentences I say we need a phone call or consult," said Dr. LoBisco.
Both doctors said that they have never had a problem, and that most people know where to draw the line.
"I think social media is the wave of the future," said Dr. LoBisco.
"Any way for a patient to communicate with a doctor, any additional means of communication is a good thing," said Dr. Winter.
