The Changing Face of Communications

Until only recently, members of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine would share information with one another primarily by means of the listserv. Of course, the listserv has been highly successful over the years in allowing members to maintain a dialogue with one another. The News and Views newsletter was also very popular, but went out of print with the debut of Breastfeeding Medicine. Until 2005, our ability to reach the public at large had always been negligible.

Then things began to change. With the establishment of a close working relationship with Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., ABM immediately gained the capacity to reach countless numbers of individuals and institutions around the globe by means of highly effective press releases and e-blasts. Word about ABM and its mission was finally getting out.

All of us recognize that the world of technology has been changing at an extraordinary pace, and with it, the way that people communicate with one another has likewise been radically transformed. Recognizing this fundamental reality, the Academy is adapting to the new social networking topography. With the beginning of this new year, the Academy has created a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Both ventures have already received a remarkably enthusiastic reception. By means of them, we have advanced on the forum of public opinion by another quantum leap. We can expect that with the help of these new capabilities, people from all walks of life and from all professional and vocational backgrounds will come to regard the ABM as “the premier international authority on breastfeeding medicine,” one of the five major goals of our current strategic plan.

To complement these developments, the Academy is bringing back a membership newsletter, which will be posted online. The newsletter will update members on recent Academy developments and will also present items of interest to physicians engaged in the practice of breastfeeding medicine. This publication will only be available to ABM members.

To facilitate communications between board members, the Academy has also purchased a subscription to Groupsite committee pages. These pages will enable our board committees to manage and store documents with far greater proficiency. The Protocols Committee, in particular, will undoubtedly benefit from this newly acquired capability. The prodigious amount of work that goes into the development of ABM protocols requires a greatly enhanced ability to store, share, and modify documents. At long last, the Protocols Committee will have such a capability at its disposal.

There is yet more to come. The Advocacy Committee is currently working on the development of a blog, by means of which the Academy can comment in a timely manner on current controversies and events related to breastfeeding and its management. Like Facebook and Twitter, it is anticipated that a blog will greatly extend the reach of ABM in the arena of public opinion.

In addition, the Board of the Academy is considering yet another e-newsletter, this one to be published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., and directed to ABM members as well as the public at large. The newsletter would carry short summaries of contemporary public interest issues related to breastfeeding, with a special focus on ABM and its activities. The expectation is that such a newsletter, produced by an extremely reputable and highly regarded publishing firm, will engender a large and loyal readership, further securing the position of the Academy as the leader in the field of breastfeeding medicine.

All of these new communications capabilities hold the promise of drawing members from outside the United States into greater participation, perhaps by means of webcasting and by networking at the regional and national level. The creation of a truly international Academy infrastructure can now proceed in a highly cost-effective manner, no small consideration in light of our modest financial resources.

I must admit to not being particularly computer-savvy. In fact, even on my best days, I have considerable difficulty finding my way from one end of the keyboard to the other. And yet even one as set in his ways as I am has to acknowledge that a new age of information-sharing has dawned. Young people look upon Facebook and Twitter in much the same way as their elders regard printed newsletters, magazines, snail mail, and even the water cooler. This is the way they communicate. If we wish to reach them, we must adapt to the ways by which they choose to converse. In order to provide them with leadership in the field of breastfeeding medicine, we must learn from them. We would do well to remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi:

There go my people; I must follow them, for I am their leader.