Ok . . . far be it from me to be critical of others hard work - but honestly advertising McDonald's advertisements on a healthcare site?  Maybe it's a joke?  I honestly don't think so.  I guess it's just perspective, however I really don't think McDonald's is that "healthy" for you.

 

We received a very nice write up from healthyspacesrx.com about how social media can learn from online dating.  An interesting comparison with what we are doing.   Attached is the summary article.

One of the frustrations cropping up on health social media sites is centered around the mechanism that caused their popularity at the outset, the message board. On a typical health social media site like Dailystrength.org or Inspire.com, much of the activity takes place on message boards which are grouped by conditions (asthma, diabetes, etc.). Depending on the site, members can then connect with each other (assuming they found their interaction satisfactory). There are two issues with this approach: one is the level of "noise" found on some of the boards -- the lack of screening in health groups on Facebook, for instance, has meant that many of the posts are irrelevant to patients. The other is the serendipitous nature of the posting process itself, notably, a specific question may not be read by the right party at the time that it is posted. For example, a parent with a newly-diagnosed autistic child who lives in Memphis, TN may only want to hear from another parent with a newly-diagnosed child in the same area. Or even better, another parent who is seeing the same doctor in the area.

FacetoFaceHealth.com, which launched in April, is hoping to facilitate those connections. Nowell Outlaw, CEO of FacetoFaceHealth, likens the message board model to "sitting in a cafeteria full of people and writing your message on a notecard and putting it on the wall - only if someone walks by and sees your message and writes a response to you do you get an answer...So our solution is really the directory of people in the cafeteria - you can see who has what condition, and we point out who is the best match to you - and you can walk up and ask them a question."

FacetoFaceHealth provides a linking mechanism that actively matches people based on health information members provide. The site is designed to securely provide resources, contacts and information not only for patients, but also for the patients' caregivers, parents, spouse or loved ones. Matches are pushed out to members on a weekly basis. If this approach sounds familiar, that's because it is essentially the same approach as Match or eHarmony.

When Outlaw explained the model to me, he likened the approach to LinkedIn but I told him that the first analog that came to mind was eHarmony. He acknowledged that his own wife describes the company as "Match.com for healthcare" -- an analogy he struggles with due to the dating context but accepts as valid.

Where FacetoFaceHealth breaks with the Online Dating model is it's business model which is advertising-driven. FacetoFaceHealth charges advertisers per click and targets advertising towards members who would find specific advertising most relevant. Outlaw added that FacetoFaceHealth does not share member information with advertisers.

Perhaps the business model is another area where health social media could look to online dating. Most people either forget or don't realize that online advertising actually contracted 25% from 2000-2002 during the dot-com bust. With the limits of the advertising model being tested in this current downturn and Facebook mulling the possibility of charging users some type of fee, perhaps the time has come for health social media sites to consider charging users as well. Charging users would certainly eliminate potential conflict-of-interest issues in the burgeoning health social networking field where people's health information is involved. It is a troubling dilemma given that most sites, like Facebook, need scale in order to begin being useful to users. This dilemma has meant opening the gates and providing the service for free in the past. Perhaps a limited free-trial period would allow members to see the benefit of the site before signing up for a membership. It is difficult to believe that users would assign a higher economic value to finding a date Friday night with finding someone who could provide caregiving tips for a parent with Alzheimer's disease. 

 

New Website Designed to Take Health 2.0 to the Next Level by Connecting Consumers One-on-One With Each Other

LOUISVILLE, CO--(Marketwire - April 14, 2009) - FacetoFace Health, a Colorado-based company, launched a new online health community that connects healthcare consumers one-on-one with others who share similar health conditions and experiences. In addition, the site will automatically couple users with relevant information and resources based upon their medical conditions, treatments, medications, medical facility and more. The goal of FacetoFace Health is to enable healthcare consumers to make knowledgeable decisions with information from real people who have experienced similar medical issues -- people helping people.

The website is the brainchild of FacetoFace Health President and CEO, Nowell Outlaw. Outlaw recognized there was a tremendous need for a vehicle which allowed healthcare consumers to find, connect and share information directly with each other after two family members were diagnosed with serious medical conditions. He wanted to connect with patients who had been treated for the same illnesses at a particular medical facility, but became frustrated when he was unable to find a website which matched people to people based upon specific medical criteria. Nowell Outlaw's dissatisfaction with the limited resources available prompted him to create FacetoFace Health.

The website allows registered users to input health-related information about themselves and/or their loved ones. For privacy and security reasons, users identify themselves via screen names and are discouraged from using their real names anywhere on the website. The site is designed to securely provide resources, contacts and information not only for patients, but also for the patients' caregivers, parents, spouse or loved ones. "Our goal is to humanize healthcare. We want to provide a straightforward and secure means for people to share their healthcare experiences and knowledge with others who may be going thru similar medical challenges," says Outlaw. Now the husband of a breast cancer patient or the mother of an ill child can reach out and ask others about their experiences with specific treatments, or medications -- without having to post the question on a message board and wait for someone to reply.

In addition to connecting consumers to each other, FacetoFace Health connects relevant products or services to the consumer based upon information in their health profile via pay-per-click advertisements. This design allows the user to control which ads they'd like to review and which to skip. The site matches informational advertisements to users based upon the relevance to the user's unique healthcare profile. Outlaw believes that this advertising layout is optimum for both the consumer and the advertiser: "We believe consumers do not want to be bombarded with banner ads and advertisements that are not relevant to them. Limiting the advertising space on our site allows the consumer to control the information they see. In addition, it gives the advertiser the assurance that their ads are being seen by the people that matter most -- those who are actively seeking healthcare information."

The site also allows registered users to upload health-related articles and link to other relevant online resources via the "Healthy News" portal. "The site is intended to put the healthcare consumer in the driver's seat," says Gerald Henderson, Executive Director of Business Development. "We've taken steps to ensure that the consumer is controlling the information and being given the resources they need to make educated healthcare decisions."

FacetoFace Health launched on April 7, 2009. For additional information on FacetoFace Health, visit www.FacetoFaceHealth.com. Registration is free to all users.

About FacetoFace Health

FacetoFace Health is a social networking site designed to connect healthcare consumers one-on-one to others who share similar health conditions and experiences. The site is designed to provide people a secure and straightforward means to communicate with others who may be able to provide answers and/or support for health challenges. For additional information on the company, visit www.FacetoFaceHealth.com. For information on advertising opportunities visit www.FacetoFaceHealth.com/Partners.

Well it's been a pretty incredible road to get here... my initial thoughts were that this thing would be a fast process... It's been exactly one year since we started working on FacetoFace Health - and it's been a ton of work.  It's interesting when you start a business how things sort of roll around (and around) and then finally you find your track.  We have spent hundreds (if not thousands) of hours working on interface design, usability, color studies, focus groups, technology foundations, matching algorythms, etc. etc.  Then take it all, get it ready and start your browser testing... Boy is that a fun process, what works in one, doesn't in another, and another - but eventually it gets done.  I think we're ready to go this time.  Last year (October) I found myself staring at FacetoFace Health and thinking - "I don't have a good revenue model" - after attending the Health 2.0 show in San Francisco I really was thinking this.  Sitting at tables with people, everyone asking everyone else - how do  you make money?.  We'll after all this time, we have our revenue model, healthcar matching algorthm, etc.  Our mailer to potential advertisers goes out the door this week - so it will be interesting to see how many want to participate in our little project.

The last six months have also been an interesting time for Health 2.0 / Social sites.  RevolutionHealth.com and DailyStrength.org were sold, and Trusera sent an email out that they might be closed at the end of April.  It's very interesting that sites like RevolutionHealth have very small communities (even though they had deep pockets) and sites like DailyStrength have very vibrant communities.  I've been asking myself over and over again - how did one get 30,000 and the other 500,000 within the same timeframe... My hunch - it's what you present to the user that the entire site is about - if your front door is a community then that's what you build - if your front door is a search engine then that's what you get.  Our goal is to have 100,000 registered users by the end of 2009 - if we can do that things will definately be flying for us - and we'll probably have to upgrade to new servers ($$$$).

It's really a shame, I think Trusera is really great, and you can see the amount of dedicated work that has been put into the site.  Of course, they also raised several million ($) while we have had to claw and scratch to get F2FH built.  It's been a hard road, managing cash flow, having very tight belts and sometimes loosing sleep over the entire project.  I was sitting in church today (Palm Sunday) and my pastor was talking about why you were put on this earth to do things... it has kept ringing in my head all day.  FacetoFace Health is about helping people and it's a good thing - I sincerly hope that it's users are able to utilize it to help themselves. 

That's about it.  We'll know shortly how well adoption starts occuring. 

Nowell

p.s. I do have to say that starting a business during and through this rough economic climate makes one focus on core items very quickly - which is good practice and we've been through it before. 

 

So I attended the Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco in October.  It was a major eye opening event for me.  Largely, there are many social sites that exist to support consumers in their need for social forums and groups.  The trouble is, none seem to make any money.  I jokingly asked a guy how much he was making from Google Adsense on his site - he pulled out a pocket of change.  You see it seems like consumers on the social networks are tuning out adsense ads that sites are desperately trying to use to generate revenues.  At this point in time I believe that people definately tune out these ads, unless they are using the internet to purposely shop for something specific.  Put the ads next to my forum or message board and click through rates become very low.  Truth be told social networks are facing a less than 1% click through rate from users on their site on specific ads.  I've read one recent entry that says it's more like .01% - scary since that is the revenue model for many of these companies.  Where is this going?  We at FacetoFace Heatlh believe we have created a revenue model that focuses on healthcare and how to keep these needed organizations and support groups going.  What else did I learn from the Health 2.0 conference - there doesnt' seem to be affiliate participation or models being engaged in these communities.  Many are focused on specific healthcare conditions and treatments, but all seem to be integrating a google ad-sense approach into their site. 

Well we've finally done it - put FacetoFaceHealth into live production.  We're starting small to grow the community in a controlled manner so that it doesn't completely overwhelms us.  I read a recent article that 10% of the people using the internet on a daily basis are looking for some form of health information - so it's sort of scary how quickly something could become overwhelmed.   It's been a very hard summer getting here, but we're basically through most of it.  Now we have version 2.0 already going and things just keep getting faster and faster. 

To the team that worked on getting us to this point - a big THANK YOU! - It could not have gotten here without the all nighters, weekend work, etc. 

Off we go.

Nowell