We all know the cases where clients bring us pages of printout material with the diagnosis of what their animal is suffering of. That was web1.0

Web 2.0 is when they don't even come anymore to your practice because they consult directly online. That is of cause an unrealistic worst case scenario, but the tendency is clear: people are exchanging and consult via internet. How to deal with this new situation? Ignoring or following the masses? Is it an opportunity or a big waste of time? Should our profession show decent presence in a social network, to remind people that veterinarians exist, or do we have to defend our profession in an aggressive way to avoid being replaced by self-declaired experts for animal health and welfare? Would this be in accordance to our professional code of conduct?

Even if we decide not to mix up with the masses we should profit of crowdsourcing inside our own profession to bring forward companion animal veterinary medicine by sharing knowledge.