COVID-19 is exposing the travesty of racial health disparities. Healthcare associations have a unique opportunity to lead reform with energized advocacy, impactful initiatives, and multilateral partnerships. But the scale of health inequity calls for more. Healthcare associations, in particular, have a unique opportunity to apply new solutions to reduce health disparities in the pandemic era.

Start your health equity social entrepreneurship journey with these five steps:

1. Elevate health equity as a core strategy for social good. 

2. Focus on a specific social determinant of health that most closely relates to your membership and stakeholders. 

3. Recruit a lead community partner and a lead corporate partner as the first step in developing a multi-sector collaborative innovation team. 

4. Select two or three solutions that align with some of your existing core strengthens and capacities. 

5. Co-design an operational prototype that your collaboration team ranks as most likely to be both impactful to the problem and sustainable with recurrent revenue. 

Go to the Association Ventures Playbook for more details on digital health innovation and your association’s path to serve the public good and generate new nondues revenue.

I’ve been with Brainsy almost from inception and we see all kinds of responses on the various private label social media networks powered by Brainsy. There are a few guidelines on how to write a good response.  

First, be on topic. A good answer will address the “knowledge gap” or the reason the question is being answered. 

Second, explain why you are an authority on the subject. People will have a higher degree of confidence in your response if you are credible. 

Third, reference other sources when needed. Depending on the configuration of the site in which you are participating, you may be able to hyperlink to other sources that you reference. With the correct linking strategy, there could also be benefits to search engine optimization (SEO) if you’re familiar with that growing area of digital marketing.  

Fourth, use the appropriate tone. Is your site a professional site, a site for comedians, or one that is for serious scholarly peers? Be sure to match the tone with the participants on the site.   

Fifth, make sure your response is well organized and grammatically correct.  

Six, don’t reply with one-word or two-word responses. Provide some substance in your response. Pass on a question if you don’t have the time or inclination to answer it. The platform amplifies your response and there’s already enough content clutter in the universe. So be respectful of the person asking the question and others that may take time to read your response. 

Hopefully, these tips will help you write a good response to any questions submitted to you on a Brainsy powered social media site.  

Thank you for the question. Three things to consider:

1. The COVID-19 pandemic is not a wholly unexpected or "black swan" event. In the work of foresight, what is happening now is considered a "wildcard," i.e., something we knew could happen, but we didn't know when. Indeed, there has been considerable discussion of the possibility of a devastating global pandemic over many years, including in a prescient Bill Gates TED talk from 2015.

2. Now that we're in the middle of a crisis, the best option is for chief staff executives and their teams to monitor and manage their associations' day-to-day actions, with the benefit of board perspective and support. Consistent with the duty of foresight, boards (with staff assistance) must focus their attention on learning with the future to understand, anticipate, and prepare for the "next normal" worlds that could plausibly occur in the ensuing 12-18-24-36 months. I use the term "next normal" here because I don't believe the environment that emerges in the immediate aftermath of the current crisis will last. We're going to be feeling this turbulence for some time as we move through different stages.

3. We are all feeling vulnerable right now. Vulnerability is a natural human reaction to risk and uncertainty. Association staff and voluntary decision-makers are not exempt, and it will be highly detrimental to meaningful collaboration if they choose to hide their vulnerability because they want to be "business-like" or "professional." Each of us needs to share what we're feeling so we can support one another, move beyond coping with the current situation, and concentrate on building our associations, stakeholders, and fields to thrive for the remainder of this decade.

Thank you again for your question. I hope you find my response helpful. You're welcome to reach out with any follow-up you may have.

Yes, you can add your private social media network (powered by Brainsy) to the subdomain of your website if it runs on Wordpress or any other Content Management System (CMS). In addition to having your network reside on a sub-domain of your company's site (e.g.  www.KEYWORD.mycompany.com or https://eco.brainsy.com for a live example), another option is to have your social network reside at a domain not directly associated with your company's main domain (e.g. www.KEYWORDorPHRASE.com). In either case, all the heavy lifting is done by Brainsy and the technology is hosted by Brainsy so that you don't have any incremental technical costs associated with the launch or operation of your network.  

We at Brainsy usually don’t comment on items in the political sphere, but the attention around this sound bite deserves some commentary on the state of the media today. 

Clearly it’s disrespectful to dehumanize someone - even in jest. But typically such comments would be disregarded except when they support another narrative (eg. Joe Biden is spiraling out of control and lashing out at voters or that Joe Biden is losing his mental acuity -- what does "Lying dog-faced pony soldier" even mean?)

This headline was at the top of the Drudge Report, a site that curates sensational news headlines/links, and that is often referenced by reporters from traditional media channels and then amplified on mass market social media (MMSM). For example, it was tweeted by the President’s son, Don Jr. which then brings additional attention across all MMSM platforms with further shares and comments. 

Social media algorithms, designed solely to fuel engagement (leading to more $), then push the commentary into the Feeds of targeted audiences serving as flames to fuel a fire of polarization (and more engagement/$).    

Some people think this story could be a cannonball that sinks the Biden campaign ship. Others suggest it’s not an issue that Republicans should elevate given the President’s own track record of name-calling women and using animal faces:  

(See: Trump calls Stormy Daniels 'horseface'; she fires back with 'tiny' and notes the president's 'shortcomings'
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-calls-stormy-daniels-horseface-after-judge-dismisses-her-suit-n920701 )    

Regardless of one’s position on this quote by Biden or the politics of it, what is clear is that “traditional media” exists symbiotically with MMSM and both are being driven by algorithms designed to provoke. Combine that with the potential for anonymity on most MMSM platforms and this creates an online space for individual actors and groups to incite hate and virtual riots -- which has real world consequences offline.  

Sacha Baron Cohen, a comedian, has been a voice of clarity on the dangers of MMSM. (See his speech: Sacha Baron Cohen slams Zuckerberg and calls for a 'rethink' of social media Cohen says Facebook, YouTube, Google and Twitter "amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history."
https://www.cnet.com/news/sacha-baron-cohen-slams-zuckerberg-and-calls-for-a-rethink-of-social-media )

As more voices, like those of Cohen, cause MMSM to be increasingly scrutinized by regulators and politicians, one potential fix lawmakers should consider is to “End the Algorithm” on MMSM platforms. In other words, consumers should have the universal right to opt-out of any and all algorithms that match their profile, preferences, or viewing behavior with other content or ads. While this would likely be unpopular to lemur-faced CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, it’s one of MANY fixes that could help break a vicious cycle that is harming our society and coarsening our discourse.  

#LyingDogFacedPonySoldier

A lot of the technology that can be used to colonize Mars or the Moon can also be used on Earth to live subterranean. We cannot expect to live on the surface of the Moon or Mars without having to worry about the radiation from the Sun. Therefore, a number of engineers are looking at ways to turn Lunar and Martian caves into dwelling places for humans - either as explorers or permanent colonists. There are programs in place to develop sub-Lunar and sub-Martian settlements, which would be useful here on Earth in the event that the surface was no longer habitable.

Hi Frankie: 

Thanks for your inquiry. Brainsy offers custom-built social media and engagement platforms under your brand. 

Our clients have a range of needs when hiring us to build out a Brainsy powered platform. Some may want to increase engagement by their existing community or membership, promote their profile online (enhanced SEO), or monetize their efforts or expertise. As such, our platform has a diverse set of modules to meet these needs. 

When preparing a pricing proposal, we consider whether or not there’s a monetization opportunity that would include upside for Brainsy. If it doesn’t, then we can price on a straightforward licensing basis. Typically, our license fee is on par (or less) than the monthly retainer fee you might pay an SEO agency to win keywords on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). 

Hope this sheds some light. Please contact us directly so that we can prepare a pricing proposal with your needs in mind.