A new kind of 'social network' is seeking to capitalize on the cold/flu-ridden.
Sickweather is startup business that both tracks diseases and functions as a social network. This network scans various social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, and looks for illnesses that could be affecting those in your community. Adweek has referred to this as "social media for hypochondriacs" due to its ability to detect and filter real time updates of people reporting illnesses.
Using algorithm technologies, this system compares the real time data against other sources, including its own online community (in which you actively participate in by signing up with a login and password and contribute to their database) and creates "maps" of sickness to alert users of their potential risks.
The system claims to be able to track everything from simple colds to chronic illnesses, and even depression. This tool allows the worrisome to check on the health of their friends and families at any time (permitting that they update their status via Sickweather).
What's interesting about this hybrid social media is how it plans to make money as a startup business. It's hoping to earn revenue by strategically placing ads on health sites, targeted to "suburban moms, business travelers and others who actively dodge illness" who may use this tool. This symptom-targeted advertising also plans on hosting healthcare providers on its own site.
Since this is a startup business their IMC approach is different. They haven't yet become established enough to fully utilize all outlets of strategic marketing communications. However, what they do have going for them is their use of certain outlets to hit a specific target audience. They're positioning themselves to be specialized in a field where there are a lot of health-alert sites and social media platforms. But instead of just being a source of information, they're a business. And they are using other publications (like Adweek) and news releases to promote themselves.
Overall, Sickweather's strategies are still pretty pliable. They seem to be in the trial stages of their development, but with any luck, they may get featured in ad space on online healthcare sites and begin to profit from the hypochondriac market.
Photo credit: http://news.discovery.com/infectious-diseases/
