Facebook is Planning to Diversify into Healthcare with Support Communities & Apps

While health information remains a personal matter most people wouldn’t dream of divulging to strangers, more and more people are growing comfortable with the idea of sharing some of their health information, as well as asking other patients with the same diagnosis for advice, online.

Given this growing openness, Facebook plans to extend its business to healthcare by establishing “support communities” and “preventive care” applications for both users suffering from various illnesses and those seeking for advice that will help them improve their lifestyles, reports Reuters today.

According to Reuters’ report, “three people familiar with the matter” stated that Facebook’s healthcare plans are still in an early stage of development. According to these unnamed sources, Facebook has been consulting experts and entrepreneurs from the medical industry for the past few months, and has set up a research and development unit, to test new healthcare apps.

Healthcare has historically been a strong area of interest for Facebook, but until recently, had taken a backseat to more pressing products and concerns. The social media giant wants to harness preventive care apps, support communities, and other healthcare products to “increase [user] engagement with the site”.

Past projects—such as Facebook’s “organ-donor status initiative,” which was launched in 2012—allowed users to indicate their organ-donor status. As a result of this campaign, 13,054 people registered to be organ donors online in the United States. This number is reportedly higher than the daily average of 616 registrations, according to a study conducted in June 2013 by the American Journal of Transplantation.

According to Reuters’ report, “three people familiar with the matter” stated that Facebook’s healthcare plans are still in an early stage of development. According to these unnamed sources, Facebook has been consulting experts and entrepreneurs from the medical industry for the past few months, and has set up a research and development unit, to test new healthcare apps.

Healthcare has historically been a strong area of interest for Facebook, but until recently, had taken a backseat to more pressing products and concerns. The social media giant wants to harness preventive care apps, support communities, and other healthcare products to “increase [user] engagement with the site”.

Past projects—such as Facebook’s “organ-donor status initiative,” which was launched in 2012—allowed users to indicate their organ-donor status. As a result of this campaign, 13,054 people registered to be organ donors online in the United States. This number is reportedly higher than the daily average of 616 registrations, according to a study conducted in June 2013 by the American Journal of Transplantation.

According to the PatientsLikeMe survey, 72% of respondents have rated the site “moderately” helpful or “very helpful.” More importantly, 94% of respondents were “comfortable” or “very comfortable” with sharing their health information on the site after joining.

However, Facebook’s bold venture does not entirely open doors for targeted advertising, as Facebook prohibits pharmaceutical companies from using the site to promote prescription drugs. In the Facebook Advertising Guidelines, it is stated that:

Ads for online pharmacies are prohibited except that ads for certified pharmacies may be permitted with prior approval from Facebook.

Aside from safeguarding the privacy of its users’ health information, venturing into healthcare also means shouldering additional responsibilities. “I could see Facebook doing well with applications for lifestyle and wellness, but really sick patients with conditions like cancer aren’t fooling around,” stated Frank Williams, chief executive of Evolent Health—a company that offers services and technologies to healthcare systems.

Moreover, Williams said that users should be given the option to remain anonymous, coupled with “an assurance that their data and comments wouldn’t be shared with their online contacts, advertisers, or pharmaceutical companies”.

As of now, Facebook remains silent on its healthcare plans.

What do you think of Facebook’s healthcare initiatives? Will this be a good or bad move for the social network? Let us know your opinions in the Comments section below.

Comments

comments