Sharecare.com: An Unhealthy Alliance?

Sharecare.com was launched in early October and has been deemed an “interactive social Q & A.”  Sharecare was developed as  a “platform to provide consumers with what they want to know on health and wellness subject.” The website includes content contributed by “expert” organizations such as The American Cancer Society, The American Red Cross, John Hopkins, and more. Interestingly, the website also includes “knowledge partners” – marketers that are paying approximately $1 million to $7 million to become sponsors of Sharecare.com in order to have access to consumers visiting the site. Some of the “knowledge partners” include Colgate-Palmolive, Pfizer and Walgreen. The interesting part is that these knowledge partners provide more than advertising – they provide health content on the site.

According to the article in the New York Times, “some visitors looking for objective answers to questions on health matters may raise their eyebrows at the presence of marketers.” It is also interesting that the sponsors are positioned as “knowledge partners.” I know nothing is perfect and advertisers almost always fund the dissemination of information, but in this case we have advertisers serving as knowledge providers. This seems to be crossing a line for a venue that is seeking to be a quality health information resource for consumers. What are your thoughts? Jeff Arnold, chairman and chief architect of Sharecare in Atlanta, acknowledges that some visitors to the site may be skeptical of the content coming from the “knowledge partners,” he also noted that the brand answers and expert answers receive the same amount of readers.

Sharecare.com will certainly have some healthy competition. Everydayhealth.com and WebMD attract millions of visitors monthly. It will be interesting to see how Sharecare distinguishes itself from its competitors and if it can rise above the inherent lack of credibility that comes with sponsors serving as knowledge providers.

For more, check out this story in The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/business/media/07adco.html

Post by Dan Dunlop with Stephanie Cohen, UNC-Chapel Hill Student and Jennings Intern