One of the most well known and admired blogs in the pharma field is PharmaGossip, which started already back in 2005. The creator of PharmaGossip, Jack Friday, a.k.a. “the Insider” has never revealed his real name and very few personal details. He remains the King of Anonymous Blogging. Where others have been unmasked, he has managed to cloak his identity. To do so he has refused any direct contact with the press and he has never given an interview in which he spoke directly to anyone.
Until now, that is.
This week Jack Friday agreed to give BrandweeekNRX an exclusive, once in a lifetime opportunity, to ask any questions we may have had on our mind. In doing so, he said, “I like what you’ve been doing, especially with whistleblowers, and I know I can trust you to protect my identity.”
Let’s start with what we can tell you about the Insider.
Jack Friday is a British male, in his 50s, and he has spent his career in the pharma industry. In fact, he’s worked for both Schering-Plough and GlaxoSmithKline, and he still makes his living working for the drug industry. That is one important reason he is blogging anonymously.
He also does have a wife, whom he met in 1977, and he wryly comments, “She doesn’t tell me if she’s reading my blog. But sometimes I can tell based on the comments she makes to me . . .” It should be noted that PharmaGossip on occasion features attractive ladies, and that we refrained from asking if Mrs. Friday had an opinion on Mr. Friday's selection.
Jack Friday has a background in marketing and PharmaGossip’s success owes much to that experience. When he started out, he couldn’t e-mail his contact list about his new venture to gain readers, since that would blow his cover.
Instead he relied on good writing, lots of humor, linking to other blogs, and linking from message boards, including CafePharma. The latter got him in trouble and the webmaster of CafePharma banned his web address.
Jack writes PharmaGossip for his own enjoyment, and also to educate people. He says, “it’s not the destination that is important, it is the journey.”
But he is also in it to make a difference. “There are a few too many sociopaths who’ve made it to the top, and sunshine is the best disinfectant,” he muses.
That sunshine is the PharmaGossip blog.
But Jack isn’t an activist in the traditional sense. He likes the pharma world, he blogs because “it’s fun at the moment,” and he’s simply “happy to carry on.”
He’s also happy there are more pharma blogs today than when he started, that focus on various aspects of drug marketing.
His biggest surprise about blogging is the impact he’s having. “I’m getting visitors from the FDA, the NIH, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, people I never thought would look at what I write. Maybe that’s a start, and maybe what we all do will make a difference. It certainly makes it harder to hide. Now whistleblowers know they can get their message out.”
Jack Friday also thinks blogging will change a small part of the world. “I think this will snowball. It has become easier to blow the whistle anonymously with blogs prepared to write those stories. And with all the layoffs coming up there will be more disaffected people who want to speak up.”
When asked how many hours he spends writing PharmaGossip he says it varies a lot. “If you enjoy your work it isn’t really work anyway,” he adds.
So what is Jack’s recipe for success in blogging?
“Be yourself; write about what you really enjoy. And be brief. Also remember that nobody wants to be preached at and that humor often best makes the point. You need to give readers a reason to come back. And you need to have fun doing it.”
- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.
Cheers Peter.
Great visual as well!
J
Posted by: Jack Friday | August 18, 2007 at 06:51 AM
I love that any comment of difficult try my blog. Thank you
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