I find it somewhat hard to believe, but it has been almost 4 years since this site first launched. Back in 2005 few people had even a basic idea of what kind of impact open Internet publishing will have on the worlds of health and healthcare.

But the world is changing and I believe in changing with it. I have been doing some introspection that led to me to resolution that I must "escape from my Personal Branding Prison". What does it mean in practice? I want to make Trusted.MD less dependent on myself as a regular blogging personality and change my own posting schedule from "weekly" to "once-in-a-while" format.

Why am I doing this and what does it mean for everyone here?

Well, first of all, I think the world can get by with one less column on the "impact of social media on fill-in-the-blank". Really folks. These days everyone with a pulse is called a "social media expert". Nothing wrong with that and no offense to anyone, but much of social media marketing is becoming simply a branch of PR. Traditional PR techniques are simply being transplanted to a new technology format. Anyone can start a blog, a Twitter account and a Facebook page and this is really not rocket science anymore. No need to "herald change" here.

I want to refocus my time from "starring" to "producing"

Just to be clear, Trusted.MD is not going away by any means. All the columns, newsletters and news aggregation will continue as they are now. But instead of putting myself out front, I just want to focus on providing an open platform for smart and passionate people to express themselves on healthcare topics. I have found the pressure of doing this, while keeping a writing commitment a bit too much, especially as I am working to add a lot more new sites to my "Little Internet Empire" and focus the bulk of my time on Performance Marketing projects.

I am cutting back on consulting and speaking availability

While being all-around speaker and consultant on social media has been fun, going forward I want to focus on projects that are less dependent on my own personality. To be sure, I may be open to some exceptions and always happy to hear suggestions from anyone. At some point in the future, most likely after a significant upgrade of Trusted.MD, I may want to re-launch an active public persona, but for now I want to take a time out and have fewer things to worry about.

What is coming next for Trusted.MD Network?

While some of the craziest expectations for health social applications have been discredited, there are still a lot of productive things to do. I feel the Gartner hype cycle is nearing the "Slope of Enlightenment" and see a lot of value in providing the public with health content they may find valuable. Some of that content might be social, some of it might not. The only question is whether it will be relevant and useful. Before year's end I hope to upgrade the site to a more modern technology platform with new content, new structure and new features. Not being under pressure to regularly write blogs should help me move things along faster. I am very interested in hearing ideas and suggestions on what YOU may want from the site.

If you know me, you know I that will continue to have opinions :)

I just might not express them here on a regular basis. If you are my friend on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter, you may have seen some recent rants on a variety of topics, including political ones. If not, feel free to connect with me on those platforms. To be clear, Trusted.MD is and will remain apolitical and focused specifically on health topics, while every member and contributor is free to express their opinions. I might establish a standalone personal site to keep my personal rants separate, but none of this is a rush at the moment.

Above all, I want to thank all readers, members and contributors of Trusted.MD and look forward to taking the site to the next level!