Ever wonder what it's like to work in amedia relations office at a busy academic medical center? Much like otheraspects of medicine, it’s fast-paced – and there’s something new and oftenunexpected to work on every day. To give you a glimpse of the velocity andvariety of topics we cover in a given year, we're pulling out some interestingstats from our 2013 fiscal year end media wrap-up report to share with you.
We're constantly working to share importantadvances and news with the public and with reporters, from all parts of thePerelman School of Medicine and University of Pennsylvania Health System. PennMedicine is a busy place - with nearly 22,000 employees including 1,975 faculty- and there's no shortage of information to talk about.
This year, we issued a total of 415 pressreleases, announcements, blog posts and more, increasing our output by 31percent over last fiscal year – every year, it seems there are even morestudies and programs and compelling patient stories to talk about. We also welcomedSteve Graff to the media relations team towards the end of the fiscal year,bringing our group to a total of 8 team members with external media outreachduties.
According to our best accounting efforts,our more than 1,400 interactions with media - to facilitate interviews aboutnew and interesting research and projects underway here and provide experts tocomment on medical news of the day - resulted in 24,000+ stories in print mediaoutlets, television and radio broadcasts and online news sites. Maybe you sawus on TheToday Show,CNN, NewYork Times, heard us on NPR,or in Reuters,the AssociatedPress or the PhiladelphiaInquirer?
All told, Penn Medicine news has beencarried in outlets that reached 10.4 billion viewers and readers in FY13. Onthe busiest day last fiscal year, news about Penn Medicine was delivered tomore than 251 million people worldwide, averaging 30 million viewers andreaders who might see Penn Medicine as they’re perusing the headlines each day.
We've also been busy on social media, with @PennMedNews on Twitter experiencing38 percent growth in the number of followers this fiscal year – so, thanks toour followers! We also have to thank oursocial media followers for all the great comments and feedback (e.g. Facebook likes and video views)we've received this year. In collaboration with colleagues in Penn Medicine'sMarketing and Development/ Alumni Relations office, we've collectively seenabout 34,000 interactions via social media – including comments, likes,retweets, and shared stories – averaging more than 94 interactions withfollowers daily.
So, what was the most memorable PennMedicine story of the year for you?