When it comes to researching influencers online, identifying the right people to talk to is sometimes only half the battle. Keeping up with news and opinions will help you learn more about their views and see if they are in fact a fit for whatever program you may be developing.

Given the nature of the status-based network, it’s probably not surprising that an excellent resource to track health opinion leaders or groups is Twitter. Finding them on the network isn’t always intuitive, but there are many different resources or tricks you can utilize to find health Twitterers to follow.

This week’s Check-Up points to five ways you can locate the users you are looking for – without Jedi mind tricks. If you have another resource to share please leave a comment.

Dose of Digital Wiki

Jonathan Richman’s Dose of Digital blog is a worthy addition overall to any RSS feed if you want constant updates about pharmaceuticals and digital marketing. One resource beyond his regular articles worth checking out is the Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Wiki that he hosts on the site. Given the challenge at hand with Twitter users, you’ll be happy to know that the Wiki has a section dedicated solely to industry Twitter accounts.

“Top Docs to Follow” Doc

If you’ve never used Google Docs before, you may not know about the collaborative spreadsheet tools that are freely available. Thanks to the format of the application, some groups have built resources that are widely public and have many contributors. One great example that would also help you nicely in your quest to find a Twitter user in the health space is this public sheet on the Top Docs to Follow.

HHS Tweets

If your target groups are really specific, it may be frustrating to try and track them down one-by-one. One such example is trying to corral the many different Twitter accounts associated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Thanks to some smart folks from Ignite Health, you can now find all the HHS Twitter accounts laid out in a fascinating application at HHStweets.com.

Blogs and Web sites

Maybe your research on Technorati or other Blog search engines is what brought you to an influencer or thought leader, and now you want to find out more or follow that individual more regularly. If the person doesn’t fall into one of the resources above that curate Twitter accounts, you may have to find it on your own. Luckily, many users will promote their account on their sites, so, take a quick pass on their blog and look for a “Follow” button with either the Twitter logo or bird, like in this example:

A Google Search Cheat

Still no luck? You can always tap the broad search capability of Google to try and find the Twitter link through that resource. To make it easier on you, try a search with the influencer and “Twitter” or “Twitter.com.” It’s not perfect (e.g., I’m listed second behind someone else with whom I share a name), but it will often lead you close to the source you need.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 8:23 am and is filed under Health Digital Check-Up, Home Page. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.