BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT CEDEX, FRANCE--(Marketwire - Jun 26, 2012) - CSD - Cegedim Strategic Data, leading provider of healthcare market research and worldwide promotional audits, has released the results if its online study comparing the levels of professional use of mainstream social media and online medical communities, among healthcare professionals.

The study of 6,700 physicians conducted between February and April 2012, covered France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, the USA, Japan and the BRIC countries. Survey results include physicians from a range of specialties and general practice.

The Internet is an important source of information for healthcare professionals in emerging and established markets. However, the study results show that physicians in Europe, particularly in Italy and France, are by far the most conservative when it comes to using public social media sites, medical community sites or the Internet for professional networking, compared to physicians in the emerging markets.

Internet for Professional Networking

Use of the Internet for professional networking is particularly important in India (65%) and Brazil (56%). Despite a well developed internet infrastructure, physicians in Italy and France have not embraced the Internet to the same extent as their peers in emerging countries and therefore, lag behind in the ranking.

Dedicated Medical Community Sites

Japanese physicians rank first for their use of online medical communities (78%), this in contrast to their lower rankings for the use of the Internet for professional purposes and social media. The next top spots are held by emerging countries. Even dedicated medical community sites have not been adopted extensively by physicians in Italy and France.

Public Social Media

India leads all surveyed countries in terms of physician use of mainstream public social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for professional purposes (58%). This is followed by the other main emerging countries. Once more, Italy and France hold the last two positions of the 11 countries surveyed.

Facebook is the most commonly used of the main social media sites across most countries - exceptions being in China and Russia where platforms of local origin are used more. Among physicians who use public social networking sites, those in Russia were the most likely to use these to contact sales reps - as high as 45% among the sites mentioned.

About Cegedim Strategic Data:

CSD is a leading Market Research company dedicated to the healthcare industry and operating worldwide.

With over 40 years experience in the Pharmaceutical industry, CSD offers a comprehensive range of market research services and solutions to its customers, which include more than 50 global and 500 local Pharmaceutical companies. CSD integrates primary and secondary analyses with its medical expertise to meet its customer's research needs.

To learn more, please visit our website: [ www.cegedimstrategicdata.com ]

About Cegedim:

Founded in 1969, Cegedim is a global technology and services company specializing in the healthcare field. Cegedim supplies services, technological tools, specialized software, data flow management services and databases. Its offerings are targeted notably at healthcare industries, life sciences companies, healthcare professionals and insurance companies. The world leader in life sciences CRM, Cegedim is also one of the leading suppliers of strategic healthcare industry data. Cegedim employs 8,200 people in more than 80 countries and generated revenue of EUR911 million in 2011. Cegedim SA is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: CGM).

To learn more, please visit: [ www.cegedim.com ]

Physicians use of social media: [ http://hugin.info/141732/R/1621862/518317.pdf ]

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Source: CEGEDIM STRATEGIC DATA via Thomson Reuters ONE

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