The FTC announced yesterday that it will hold public hearings that will move the agency toward issuing guidelines for pharmaceutical companies that have so far shied away from social media. Pharmaceuticals, in their defense, have had every reason to shy away from social media, and that needs to change.

It needs to change not for the pharmacos, and not for the sake of social media as a marketing platform, although that will dominate a lot of the coverage on this issue. It must change for the sake of the customers of these companies that currently have minimal access to the people who make the drugs that affect their lives. The FTC needs to allow pharma companies to connect with their customers. Call it Pharmedia 2.0.

I agree with the industry watchdogs who say there must be restrictions. Endorsers should not be allowed. R&D activity should not be allowed. Lifestyle drugs (you, know, the little blue pill) should not be allowed. For social media networks, pharma companies need to be able to do things, not refrain from things. Regulations tend to focus on what a company can’t do. What they can do is:

Make key personnel available: Just like Ford does with its social media effort, and just like a lot of companies do (Virgin, Zappos, etc) let pharma cos put CEO’s on social media sites to field questions, complaints, and suggestions. If key executives are disingenuous, it won’t take long for the community to figure that out and spread it.

Create Fan Pages: It’s in the company’s best interest to supervise and add some credibility to a Seroquel community for bipolar adults, or a Paxil community for depressed patients. If you don’t agree go on Facebook and look at the unsupervised version.

Promote Events: These companies are already promoting webinars and hospital partnered programs. Social media could simply and effectively let patients and customers know about them, and then share the results.

It seems like an innocuous start, but it’s more than the current state allows.