I just found (about two months late) a great review of Google Health by Matthew Holt from The Health Care Blog.I think it's well worth the time. http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2008/06/google-health-.html
Enjoy,
Sam
The Internet's fastest growing health-focused social network
3 comments Posted by healthsocialnetworks at 8/17/2008DailyStrength is a great social network for health and by its own description ‘
the Internet's fastest growing health-focused social network’.
So – what is all about?
More than 500 different ‘support groups’, thousands of people who come everyday to talk to other likeminded people, set goals, get advice from people just like them and see who else shares the same treatments and therapies … friendships, journals stories from health professionals and more and more….
DailyStrength (aka DS by its members) came to light late 2006 with a burst of energy. Founded by top executives from Yahoo (dealing directly with Yahoo communities) and funded by RedPoint ($5-7 Million) they recruited VPs with long bios, got all the necessary PR from the top tech bloggers (anyone say TechCrunch?) and didn’t miss a single Health-Internet-Technology conference. But they didn’t stop there – they worked! DS is an active thriving community (more than 300,000 monthly visitors according to Compete.com) with many addicted members active forums and good spirit. I think everyone needs to take a look!
I put it to the test: searching for bipolar I immediately landed in their support group and was overwhelmed. 29 different people were ready to chat with me, 12700 registered members (seemed big but not that much) a forum post every 3 minutes on average – what more can you ask for? They have more…. Blog posts by a Dr. Orrange (a smiling Dr. who by her profile is feeling Good…), people giving hugs to each other (kind of made feel like everyone already knows the others – what about me ?? ;-) and some info on the disorder.
Second test: Complete Blood Count. Search got me to the High Blood Pressure Support Group. The groups looks really nice (like the bipolar group but smaller) but I just couldn’t find any information to help me with my blood count results… I’m sure that if I’d stay there for another hour or two, ask questions and look real good under all the forum topics I would eventually find some info about the blood test, but hey@!@ this is the internet I want answers now!
Final words
The Good:
1. A huge website with lots of members.
2. Great source for support and finding likeminded people.
3. The Internet's fastest growing health-focused social network (I just love marketing slogans).
The Bad:
1. Missing some personal touch. I have no idea how you can do it in such a big website, but I expect a site this big to know.
2. Some of the regulars are complaining that because it got so big they are having manageability problems. I didn’t notice it for myself but heard some say that.
3. There is nothing spectacular or really exciting about the site. I know some people will look at this and say – what the ____ do you mean… but what I am trying to say is that if you’re such a great site (and it is) and you have so many members (they do) and you say you are the fastest growing (they say) I expect something extra, some feeling of excitement like the first time I joined facebook. There is nothing wrong with just doing what you do and doing it good – but I want more.
As for dominating the Health Social Networks vertical? I’m not sure. I think MedHelp are bigger and I also think MDJunction is about the same size, one thing is for sure: DailyStrength is big and powerful.
One last note: two weeks ago I wrote a post about DailyStrengths’ financial problems. Some people wrote me to say that I was just trying to harm DS – this was not the case, I love the site ( I would like to interview them soon) and I wish with all my heart for them to find additional funding and to continue to grow so fast. I just found out the news and thought I needed to share it.
Peace & Love to you all, Sam.
OrganizedWisdom is indeed an organization bursting with wisdom.
Health Social Networks started appearing in 2006 when 3-4 sites pioneered the vertical with a lot of PR. OrganizedWisdom was one of them. Despite the fact that they launched with the wisdom cards already at the front it was really hard to understand what OW was all about, especially because it was mostly a social network and how does a wisdom card relate to social??
Only a year later that I fully understood OrganizedWisdom, it happened when they rebranded the site to social search – now wisdom cards make sense.
Did they plan on doing it this way? I don’t really think so. I believe it was a real time change adapting to the market that became a bit too busy. I love companies that know how to do that.
Today OrganizedWisdom is both the leading search engine in the health vertical and also a great company run by veteran entrepreneurs (I hope to have an email interview with them soon) relaying on the very popular work-from-home concept. People write wisdom card from home (social), Drs verify the cards from home. They maintain a forum to support the work on the wisdom cards (as apposed to the other sites on our list that do it for the patients) and manage to grow so nicely without the overheads of a large office and crew. Managing this sort of operation and doing it so nicely is something to be proud of.
And the real life tests:
I started off by searching for bipolar disorder as this is something I know about.
Auto-complete saved me from typing the whole thing (it was the first option after typing bipo) – I know its nothing special but I love that ;-).
I got the Bipolar Wisdom Card which is managed by Chris Miller. Don’t know who Chris is but she knows a lot about a lot of things (more than 100 wisdom cards on different topics and areas).
The page starts off with a short description about the disorder followed by a few facts. I even learned that some people may be categorized as having bipolar NOS - Not Otherwise Specified, I wouldn’t leave the doctors office if he told me that). I did some checking to find out it was taken from wikipedia, too bad there was no mentioning or credit for it on the page.
The page continues with news, more resources, symptoms, causes, treatments and more.
All in all the card is full of knowledge and resources and would be a great place to start if I were writing a school paper, it lacks some personal touch that a bipolar patient would definitely be looking for.
Second test, Complete Blood Count. Lets say I just got the test results and wanted to know what my status is:
This time the card was BINGO!
Short description was accurate.
The card contained all the links a person needs to find out everything about his blood count.
It would have been nice to have the different measures on page but having all the resources listed is good enough.
Final words
The Good:
- Great company with a great website
- Unique and powerful solution.
- Your source for health related resources.
The Bad:
- Missing some personal touch.
- paying for content is not really social networking
- wikipedia
and to the question in the title: NO
I don’t think OW will change the world, but its here to stay and I love them for it!
OK guys I’m not sure if this is what I think it is but….
I was doing a little research on some of the companies we listed on our List Of Social Networks when I came across a blog named rdmey by a senior web developer who’s been working for DailyStrength for the past 6 months. And this is what I found in her latest post - http://blog.rebeccamurphey.com/2008/08/02/web-developer-hiring-tips/ :
“A couple of weeks ago, I got the call: my employer was laying everyone off while they continued their search for funding. It wasn't entirely unexpected -- in this case, no news started to seem like bad news as the weeks ticked by”
If that means what I think it does, we are seeing the first major site in the Health Social Networks niche to be effected by the recession. DS spent a lot of $$ over the last couple of years (anyone say bubble?) on building a strong team to win the race. I’ve got to say that if this news is true – I am amazed. According to their early 2007 press release DS raised $5-7 Million from RedPoint, all gone ???
I would hate to see DS disappear. It’s a great site with a great future and what does it say about the other companies on our Health Social Networks list? Will MDJunction and MedHelp be the next to feel it? (they are the next biggest Health Communities on our list).
I’ll try and get more info to you soon.
TechCrunch wrote a review on WebVet - WebVet, The “WebMD for Pets”, Launches it seems that they already have 3 competitors and my guess that we'll be seeing a few more soon.
will they have 20 different competitors (like our list of Social Networks) in one year??
maybe i need to change my blog theme? ;-)
List of Health Social Networks
Let’s start talking business. The following is the first list I publish for the websites I think belong to the Health Social Networks vertical. I broke the list down to 3 categories: General Communities, Cause Specific Communities, and Search Engines. I’m leaving out all the ‘market places’, ‘for doctors’ and ‘rate your doctor’ sites for now.
General Communities
Cause Specific Communities
Search Engines
Healia
iMedix
I’m looking to expend the list – please let me know!!
reference from these posts:
http://seedsofgrowth.com/health-related-social-networking-sites
http://www.experientia.com/blog/health-related-social-networking-sites/
Websites for health information were the first large scale niche sites on the internet (yehh – even porn came later), when eCommerce became public domain health products were the first to be sold (high price, low weight – great internet combination), spam and health we all know (my Dad still looks at me with a very confused face when he's saying "I really don't need V_____, why do they send it to me all the time').
It's only natural that in the age of the everything2.0 the old health forums and new entrepreneurs are seeking to become a Health Community. Cause that sounds so much better !!! ;-)
But to be serious (hell - I'm dedicating my whole blog for this) I truly believe that Health Social Networks are the next big thing and will stay here for long (not all of them, just the good ones) and even more – I believe with all my heart that if we learn to use them wisely and they evolve correctly WE WILL BETTER OUR LIVES.
How does a website qualify to be a Health Social Network?
Don't think there is an answer to this. If you combine some sort of a community, your content is user generated and you're all about health – we have a match!
Who Cares?
I think we all should.
Posts
