Tech Executives Use Social Media To Find Cure

Technology executives and the University of California-San Francisco's have banded together to create a special YouTube channel, a Facebook group and a widget to raise awareness for a degenerative brain diseases called Creutzfeldt-Jakob, after learning that former Apple & Netscape executive Mike Homer had been diagnosed with it.

This partnership seeks to tap into the internet's ability to reach a far larger audience to help spread awareness and get people to seek treatment sooner. It represents a new twist in the tradition model of the typical disease campaign. The campaign is being spearheaded by angel investor Ron Conway and has already raised $7 million for research at UCSF.

The disease tends to affect people in their mid-40s. Creutzfeldt-Jakob patients can live anywhere from three weeks to three years. People afflicted with the disease suffer dramatically different symptoms, depending on which part of the brain it strikes. But often the disease causes severe memory loss, problems controlling limbs, and personality changes.

"It's like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's on fast forward," said Dr. Michael Geschwind of the UCSF. The cause is unknown and it's unclear how or why it strikes any given person.

Microsoft - Verisign Partner For Online Health

One area where Microsoft is leaving Google behind is in online health care. Today Microsoft teamed up with Verisign to offer OpenID for users of HealthVault, which is a free service that enables consumers to store and manage their health information online.

"HealthVault is about empowering people to take control of their personal health information, and that means making their Web experience easier while also helping them safeguard their privacy," said George Scriban, senior product manager, Microsoft Health Solutions Group. "That's why we're happy to give our users the option of using a VeriSign OpenID with a VIP credential."

Microsoft is moving very fast in this space because it is doing the opposite of what it traditionally does. The company is partnering with others versus building. Where as Google is doing the opposite building versus partnering. Further there is a hesitancy among some companies to use Google's health solution due to the fact that the company lacks a clear privacy statement on patient information. Online advertising in the health care vertical command some of the juiciest add dollars and given the aging population it will be a long wave to ride.

Healthline Launches Ad Network

Healthline is the latest company to launch an ad network. The network will allow the health care advertisers to reach consumers in a far more targeted way. Healthline reaches 10 million unique users through publishers including AARP, Self.com, Meriam Webster and US News and World Report and will use it Semantic Taxonomy to enable ad targeting.

According to a recent Nielsen//Netratings report, health advertising networks deliver about 9 million impressions each month. Rather than selling a generic ad on several different networks, it makes sense to target a specific ad to a health network to test how consumers respond.

What makes a health ad network a good fit for many marketers? First and foremost, the fact that health websites deliver very engaged user bases. Consumers visiting health websites are looking for very specific information about health problems, health medications or treatment options. Contextually targeting your ad to this consumer base could greatly increase the ROI of campaigns reports BizReport.com.

Health.com Comes Back To Life

Time Inc. is bringing back to life Health.com to capitalize on the growing demand for online health information and services. The relaunched portal will include an interactive component to enhance the user experience, feature blogs, a full symptom and drug database, and tips on healthy living.

Health.com will join an already crowded space. The leader in the space is WebMD, with 19.9 million unique visitors, Waterfront Media's Everyday Health, with 14.7 million uniques; AOL Body, with 12.1 million; Revolution Health, with 11.5 million; and the National Institutes for Health at NIH.gov, with 9.6 million according to ComScore Media Metrix for April 2008.

Microsoft Launches Health Search Application

Microsoft launched a free web site for managing personal health and medical information called HealthVault. The site search will be powered by Live.com and the web site will be ad supported.

HealthVault enables users to search and find information about health care and provides users a repository to store health-related data such as medical histories, immunizations and records from the doctor's office and hospital visits as well as measurements from devices like heart rate monitors.

The web site enables users to invite and share their information with doctors and family members and other people they trust.

There isn't a standardized solution in the health care industry and Microsoft is seeking to capitalize on that. Microsoft purchased MedStory earlier this year.

The American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Johnson & Johnson and others are developing applications that will enable users to sync their data with HealthVault. The goal is to create a web based medical platform for hospitals, doctors and insurance companies.

Microsoft said CapMed and Kryptiq have already created applications for HealthVault that help doctors send and receive information without having to switch from technology they already use.

Google has plans of its own. Recently, Marissa Mayer took charge of Google's Health initiatives.