FDA Issues Warning to Novartis for Social Sharing

While I was out on vacation completely ignoring work and focusing on my new baby girl, the FDA issued a warning letter to Novartis for Tasigna®. This letter was issued because Tasigna.com uses a Facebook share social media widget which allows users to share Novartis-generated content via their Facebook status or updates. Based on the issuance of this letter, many pharmaceutical marketing experts have come out with their specific opinions and recommendations. This post is ONLY my opinion on the matter, but I felt like much of the issue is focused on the smaller piece of the concern rather than the real concern as I see it.

Many briefs I have read focus on the fact that social sharing widgets are based off of meta data and for that reason much of the “blame” for this warning letter has been associated with inappropriate or misused meta data. While in some cases meta data may be in non-compliance – particularly in examples represented in this notice of violation letter – in my opinion the meta data is not an issue that should be focused on as a solution. I have seen various recommendations, ranging from completely generic meta data to simply leaving those fields empty. From a search perspective, these options are not beneficial and would actually likely result in decreased search engine rankings and lower visitor engagement. These are not simply factors that concern SEO…they concern user experience and web best practices. Read more