9.8.10
Announcing our new name! Getupandmove.me is now imoveyou.com!
21.7.10
Team Contagion! In Sticker Form...
Far left, for Keith, analyst and Chief Science Officer: The "Looky Lou" Middle, for Jen, CEO and soc-me demon: "Blogmuncher" Far right, for Andrey, CTO and dev wizard: "The Web Ninja"17.7.10
"I'm on a cart - hiyahhh!"
Someone should do an Old Spice "I'm an entrepreneur" spoof. Chris Sacca, consider yourself hereby nominated...
16.7.10
CHRISTUS CABRINI HOSPITAL ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL DIABETES CONTEST WINNERS | CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini
We're thrilled to be a part of CHRISTUS Health’s’ commitment to compassionate care, and to bring this social focus to such a worthy goal.” "We are committed to finding ways to make healthy daily decisions ‘contagious’. We believe your health is in your hands, and the pursuit of better health is a social activity. Who better to support you in this effort than family and friends?
Contagion took 2nd prize!
Now the *real* work begins.
I'm thrilled and yes, a bit frightened by the scope and opportunity we've been presented with here.
Even though we all tell ourselves we start companies with the noblest of intentions, it's not everyday a scrappy startup gets a chance to ACTUALLY save the world, or - at the very least - improve the state of healthcare for folks with diabetes in the state of Louisiana.
This is the kind of opportunity I go to bed dreaming about and wake up to find - amazingly - we have in front of us.
I am so grateful to be called to doing this kind of work, and to have the resources appear, sometimes through sweat, blood, and tears, sometimes through absolute luck, to make this happen.
Thank you - everyone - for your support and love and encouragement.
Your enthusiasm and belief in Andrey and I is contagious.
It is palpable. It allows us to keep reaching for goals that seem unobtainable.
Please...keep it coming. We'll need it more than ever in the year ahead.
12.7.10
Emailing Docs is Good for You (and Them) - Who Knew? Kaiser, Apparently...
Patients who take advantage of secure patient-physician email options offered by their doctor are more likely to experience healthy outcomes, according to a recent study published in the journal Health Affairs. In a study of their own electronic health records system, Kaiser Permanente researchers found that patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension who emailed their doctors had higher quality of care scores than those who do not use such technology.
A similar study, published simultaneously in Health Affairs, found that primary-care physicians must improve their communication skills in order to deliver "patient-centered care."
Read more: Patients who email their doctors are healthier, Kaiser study finds - FierceHealthIT http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/patients-who-email-their-doctors-are-healthier-kaiser-study-finds/2010-07-12?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal##ixzz0tUwekYJb
Subscribe: http://www.fiercehealthit.com/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceHealthIT-Fie...
Patients who email their doctors are healthier, Kaiser study finds - FierceHealthIT
Patients who take advantage of secure patient-physician email options offered by their doctor are more likely to experience healthy outcomes, according to a recent study published in the journal Health Affairs. In a study of their own electronic health records system, Kaiser Permanente researchers found that patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension who emailed their doctors had higher quality of care scores than those who do not use such technology.
A similar study, published simultaneously in Health Affairs, found that primary-care physicians must improve their communication skills in order to deliver "patient-centered care."
5.7.10
Dinner #getupandmove!
Getupandmove.me/CabotThe PHR: Uber-Simple Definition
Toss this to your friends when you start making med-record-acronym-salad all up in ur social networks....
Reason #42 to Get Up and Move...
By the power of Greyskull that is a lot of money but I admit to being in desperate need of increasing my body strength. My ten year old child often turns the taps off in the bathroom very tightly and I have to go several days without washing. I feel bad constantly having to ask the lady from next door to come over and loosen them for me, what with her arthritis and limited wheelchair access to my apartment.To be honest, I originally joined your gym with full intentions of attending every few days but after waiting in vain for someone to offer me steroids, I began to suspect this was not going to happen and the realisation that I may have to exercise instead was, quite frankly, horrifying. My aversion to work, along with the fact one of your employees, Justin, was rather rude, telling me to 'lift this', ''push that' dulled my initial enthusiasm of becoming muscular and I stopped attending.
If your aversion to working out is as strong as David's, consider increasing your body strength with a sweet lil' situp challenge.
Join 5 of us here: http://getupandmove.me/shazow/2234
Our new nifty groups feature is sort of like Evite for healthy actions
Who do you think needs to get a move on? Invite them to work off that 4th of July bar-b-q, courtesy of Team Contagion.
26.6.10
25.6.10
Want vs. Need
24.6.10
Wiifit Gets a Competitive Cousin
So Kinect works—and better than I’d have thought.
Still, I foresee some challenges, the first being the space required to play some of Kinect's more active games.
Most of the activities I tried demanded plenty of movement—much more than any Wii game I’ve played. The key differentiator is that the player’s feet are now involved, which means we no longer stand in one spot and just move our arms; we actually move around the room.
I’d estimate that I was moving left and right at least three metres while I was steering the raft and a couple of metres forward and backward in the handball game. And that doesn’t include the two metres between my movement zone and the television—space necessary in order for the camera to get a full picture of your body and the area in which it moves—or my flailing limbs.
Want. +1.
22.6.10
21.6.10
Ten Clapping #getupandmove Pushups for @evanmacmillan
19.6.10
Eat Ur Own Dog Food
If you don't use your own app on a regular basis, who the heck are you building for?
Try something new today. Something small. How long has it been since you did a somersault? Touched your toes?Walked barefoot in fresh early- summer grass? Move. Today. Your body will thank you. So will I.17.6.10
Ready for the Hospital? Nope? How about "Cave Explorer?"
Note to self: Reconceptualize the mundane. Each microcosmic moment of life can feel like an adventure.
Now excuse me, off to figure out how to make a shower fun...
16.6.10
Team Contagion Uniforms - Want One? We're Hiring
| It was a long day, after we pulled an all-nighter. What can I say ;). |
Join Team Contagion. We're lookin...
Right now. For a front end engineer and a back end engineer.
Contagion is building an early-stage consumer action platform.
We are engineering and product driven, with an early revenue deal and passionate users.
-1 if you call yourself ninja, 10x, or some other nomenclature on your resume. Of course you're 10x ;).We'll be very picky about the right fit. Personal recommendations are the best way in.
Company perks:
- Join us for the summer in a pre-eminent incubator.
- Be part of the journey as we get an office, meet with VCs, and grow our core product, pushing further into the mobile and social spaces.
- You want to work on location? Sure. Game mechanics? Yep. Mobile/iPad development? Come on over.
- We encourage you to own and open-source any libraries or software you develop on which our core product doesn't depend directly, under your own name.
- We highly encourage side projects and don't retain ownership. The stuff you like to do is your stuff.
- "Inspiration" oriented work schedule and 4 day work week (Fridays the founders keep working - hang with us if you like). Our office is open 24/7 or work from the beach, coffee shops, the CalTrain.
- Gym memberships and work-out meetings.
- Don't get us wrong - we work hard, and we work long hours. The answer to anyone on the team asking: "Is X ready to roll?" should always be "yeah, yesterday" not "almost.
- Speaking of which, we'll move you out to Silicon Valley for the summer.
- Meet our Board of Awesome (Garry Tan of Posterous, Joe Gebbia of Airbnb, Stephen Cohen of Posterous Technologies).
- Interact like peers, not subordinates. Every engineer is a founder of the product. We treat you like one. Whatever part of the company dynamics interest you (funding, legal, UX, speaking/demoing) we want you to do that and learn from our mistakes.
- Hang at brunches and dinners where we learn from the best: Matt Galligan of SimpleGeo, the crew from GreenPatch, and more.
- Teaching Thursdays: Want to learn chess? Frisbee golf? How to interview? For an hour or so 1x a week Team Contagion members teach each other cool stuff.
- Champagne delivered to new employees, dinner with your significant others, hosted by the founders, Adobe-style.
- Salary important? Need a visa? Want equity? We'll work with you to figure out the right individual compensation package.
Interested? Get in touch:
@shazow (CTO): andrey@contagionhealth.com
@jensmccabe (CEO): jen@contagionhealth.com
Email resume and what you'd change about http://getupandmove.me to icanhaz@contagionhealth.com.
14.6.10
Feast!
Good food, good fun, good friends and founder talk. So grateful to be exactly where I am, doing exactly what I'm doing. I'll feed you guys anytime ;).13.6.10
Must Read: How Information Spreads in Online Social Networks (Social Contagion)
The online users are connected to each other via links of trust and utilize the features of the OSN to interact and communicate in an easy socio-technical way. Hence these virtual networks of social relationships have a high potential for influential decision-making and the word of mouth spread of information, but also for spreading fads, rumors, and erroneous information. The power of these new forms of social networks is also recognized by service providers, marketers and vendors of consumer goods. They would all like to (mis)use these existing communication channels to spread product placements, advertising and promotions directly to the connected users. However, just like the old economy businesses, not all attempted marketing initiatives are successful. Most of them fail or do not reach the desired audience.
SSRN-Spontaneous Diffusion of Information in Online Social Networks by Chris Russ.
Read it here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1620808
11.6.10
How Get Up and Move Works...
Perfect summary of how Get Up and Move works.
Art at www.20x200.com. This print by Austin Kleon.
9.6.10
You might be a startup founder if...
Sent from my iPhone
5.6.10
Dance with a Heifer, for Ben Rubin
She was *not* happy with being my partner at the Strolling of the Heifers. Maybe it was the ears...4.6.10
Contagion Health and Cabot Creamery: Partners in Healthy Moooves at Strolling of the Heifers Setup
Setting up for live #getupandmoves onsite, Brattleboro, VT.3.6.10
Where Magic Happens
New team Contagion live/work space. Desk is a stainless steel impenetrable fortress of happiness and motivation. Gift to myself, courtesy of Craigslist and a great couple with excellent taste who are moving back to Sweden. They carried the desk up two flights of stairs and wished us well with Get Up and Move. Thanks Eugenie-we'll make you proud ;)19.5.10
Lessons on How to Be Leader of the Pack
Enterprise Biz Dev Folks: Social Tech May Come a Knockin'
But Foursquare’s deal with Starbucks points to an inconvenient truth about scaling a check-in service: for check-ins to have real value, they need to be incentivised. And real incentives come through partnerships laboriously hashed out by a strong biz dev team.
That means it’s going to take more than snappy engineers, pretty badges, or even tons of users, for a company to win the war for check-ins. It’s going to take a strong salesforce that can offer users lots and lots of coupons and making checking-in worth their while.
From: "Foursquare keeps up the buzz | Tech Blog | FT.com."
The irony of a scalable, viral social app that requires an enterprise team to close revenue is thoroughly enjoyable to anyone who's lived/worked through a Valley startup and heard echoing down the corridors of Sand Hill Road: "Yeah, but will it scale?" or "Don't worry about revenue, just get users."
I'm looking forward to the day when startups (some, not all, the old early 2000's model of virality is still useful) focus more on maximizing VALUE per individual user rather than scaling a service that has less than 5% repeat, 'regular' users.
Thesis: With geolocation and check-ins, the 'quality' of your users (where they go, how often) will matter more than the quantity.
If you are Foursquare for example, consider this example of individual user value: a loyal user may check-in 7+ times weekly.
This user is more valuable than 5 other users who check-in, on average, 1x a week.
With check-ins and other real-time data capture services, all of a sudden recidivism matters (again).
After the novelty of checking in wears off, the company providing that service better be able to build in real-life perks (geopromotions, coupons for 1$ off my Frappuccino, etc) to keep you coming back.
Check-ins are essentially confirmations of life events (places we go, people we're with).
And this requires, gasp, a focus on individual user loyalty and utility over time, offered in the context of an intensely personal contextual data firehose.
Foursquare's badges, leaderboard, and mayor awards were a good early strategy to get users comfortable with the check-in behavioral pattern, but now they'll need to move past virtual incentives to real-world goodies.
Fortunately for Foursquare (and friends), most of us fill our days with an endless parade of comings and goings to lighten the tyranny of hours.
The brilliance of their platform is that it captures the underutilized asset of how we spend a portion of the 10,080 minutes we're each allotted weekly.
The question will increasingly be whether or not it's worth my while to burn 21 or so of those minutes checking in (3 mins/checkin, 7x weekly).
"Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. " ~Lillian Dickson
18.5.10
Today's #getupandmove
Sent from my iPhone17.5.10
Check-In's Will Become a Commodity - Does Your Health App Have 'Em?
Because as Lee explains, the "check-in" is going to be a commodity in a matter of months -- everyone will have a "check-in" feature, ranging from the likes of Foursquare to Facebook and Google. It's what happens after the check-in that is going to be valuable, Lee says, and he and Booyah plan to use location data specifically to make games.
From: "Booyah! Foursquare Rival Raises Huge $20 Million Round From Accel (AAPL)."
Geolocation and personal identification combined = 'here I am,' or a 'check in' format.
However, if you're a Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite, or MyTown user, you may have found that after the honeymoon period of seeing yourself show up on a map or leaderboard wears off, there's little incentive to continue broadcasting your location.
Also, constant check-ins, like constant micro-blog updates via Twitter, may serve to highlight for some of us the banality of our everyday routines.
How can the places we go become a game? An asset?
How can a list of the places we go, subjectively selected and entered - become both a personal experiential (n=1) asset and a clinically relevant population-health (n=
A note on the subjectivity/self-selection check in process and clinical utility...I've yet to see any friends check in at meth clinics or strip clubs, although both of these behaviors might be an important piece of evidence in the clinical record.
If you use these sites and services, what incentivizes you to 'check in?'
Are there any incentives you can imagine that would move you to 'check in' for healthcare related transmission of personal data to direct and unplugged to your health record?
Open question...
14.5.10
How Long Before We Have a "Diabetes" Program Button?
11:16pm. 15 mins down the hatch.13.5.10
I just checked into a flight using my iPhone
AWESOME. Sent from my iPhone12.5.10
10.5.10
What's Old is New Again - Geolocation's Potential = Getting People Through the Door
People talk about location-based advertising, but location removes the need for advertising," said Seth Goldstein, co-founder of SocialMedia.com. "If you know where the consumer is, and that she is physically touching your brand, then you do not need to rely upon traditional mass-media channels to reach her.
From: "Facebook Poised to Take Geo-Networking Mainstream - Advertising Age - Digital."
Even better, what if the consumer is physically doing something *beneficial* with your brand? Walking? Running? Lifting? Dancing? :)
9.5.10
Weirdest #getupandmove Yet...for @nostriluu
Check - "spend 15 minutes looking for a lost pet."
Unfortunately, Hallie was last seen in Blacksburg VA in December... I didn't find her on my walk (which took 30 minutes - after I got into the spirit of the thing it was hard to give up).7.5.10
2 mins of #getupandmove crunches
For @busternoe ... Please to keep 'em coming? I'd love to get up to 6 mins/day and I need an "abs buddy" ;). Sent from my iPhoneDear Awesome Guammies - It's Been Awhile...Now You Can See Why!
Guammies -
Thank you *so much* for your patience as we fumbled through figuring out features that will make your user experience better.
You gave us plenty of suggestions on how to improve Get Up and Move (GUAM) via Twitter, Facebook, and our Uservoice Feedback Forum.
Our challenge was to digest and categorize all those comments and figure out how to combine them into 'best use' design.
We're ridiculously pleased to announce our next big version is LIVE!
Amazingly, the "birth" of Get Up and Move's latest version occurred on the same exact day as the birthday of my newest niece!!!
Last night, while I was walking around with my sister Kate, who was having contractions, my cofounder Andrey was readying your new platform for healthier microchoices.
At about 2am, my niece Ava was born (7lbs 11 ounces!). At about 2:30 am, Andrey sent me an email. Here it is (with some commentology from moi):
Dear Awesomes:
The new getupandmove.me is live. You must all invite one new person or complete 50 pushups. :P
It's constantly amazing to me what we're doing with a tiny, time-strapped 2 person team (and one of us taking baby steps towards learning Python). *Please* keep telling us what works for you - and what doesn't - folks; it may take us some time to get your dream GUAM built, but your contact, comments and criticisms keeps us going on the long, dark, cold lonely nights :).
6.5.10
Remember Playing in the Dirt as a Kid?
Find a biiiiiig dirt pile. This one, in Blacksburg VA, weighs in at about 14 feet. Pretend there's a host of zombies (or 'social media consultants') at your heels... Scramble up said dirt mountain as fast as you can-like salvation is waiting on the other side. Don't just get UP and move this week. Get OUT and move, even if you live in an urban jungle. Sent from my iPhone4.5.10
How About Some TB?
You can get TB, swine flu, or their buddies heartworm, sore throat, or rhinovirus at giantmicrobes.com. Spotted in th wild at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Now, where can I get the kissing disease?
1.5.10
Geeky Valley Saturday at Weirdstuff Warehouse
Although I had to talk myself out of buying this Japanese typewriter... Sent from my iPhone27.4.10
Forget the Obvious Solutions: Go for "Stealth" to Establish Self-Awareness in Healthy Decision-Making?
There are a lot of reasons why we believe the stealth interventions will produce longer-term, more sustained effects that are of a greater magnitude than other strategies that have been tried in the past.
From: "Stealthy leads to healthy in effort to improve diet, study shows." Via @physorg.
26.4.10
The Remains of Kung Foo Lettuce Salad
I seriously have never had so much friggin fun in the kitchen in my entire life. Thanks David! More kitchen and food challenges most welcome... Challenge me here: http://getupandmove.me/jensmccabe. Request Flip video coverage if you like ;)Holy Sh*& - Someone Wants to Create an Alternative Adverse Event Reporting Database; Who is the Empowered Patients Coalition?
Patients who have been the victim of an adverse medical event will now have a new way to share the details of their experiences, according to the Empowered Patient Coalition. The San Francisco-based not-for-profit group, in collaboration with the Austin, Texas-based Consumers Union Safe Patient Project, has released a 40-question online survey that patients can use to report on their perspectives of incidents of medical harm.The survey prompts respondents to provide the details of the incident including the state where it occurred, the type of provider involved, contributing factors, whether they considered litigation and providers' response following the event. Patients have the option of submitting the surveys anonymously.
Patients can also choose from several checklists to indicate the procedure or treatment that was associated with the adverse event. For instance, in the section of the survey related to surgical errors or complications, the respondent can check boxes to indicate “wrong-site surgery” or “post-operative complication.” There are also fields to provide details about healthcare-associated infections, falls, adverse medication events and other types of incidents.
“In the aftermath of such an adverse medical event, patients and their loved ones often have a strong need to share information about their experience,” the coalition said in a news release. “In the United States and Canada, there is no comprehensive system in place to capture and disseminate information on adverse events, and patients often feel excluded and unheard.”
In addition to providing a forum for patients who have experienced medical harm, the coalition also plans to aggregate the data and use it to analyze patterns that could lead to adverse events, according to the release.
From: "HITS - Modern Healthcare's daily IT e-newsletter."
The Consumers Union Safe Patient Project could be the start of a very interesting workaround for a lack of cohesive national, public variance reporting.
However, the "considered litigation" factor worries me a bit; will we see lawyers logging in and using the public database (if it's ever open) to find potential clients and suggest suits?
Even though patients and their families can leave responses anonymously, it will be interesting to see if early responders choose this option, or whether a culture of anonymity emerges.
The early community on Quora.com for example encouraged self-identification, but in the last few weeks a greater percentage of both questions and individuals posting answers choose to be 'anonymous' rather than to self-identify.
In the hospital where I served as a Patient Advocate and often filed variances in the ED, we *could* submit variances anonymously but were encouraged not to do so...the CQI root cause analysis tended to be more complete when as much information about the event and participants as it was possible to obtain, including names, was entered.
The Empowered Patient Coalition is new to me, but I'll be making friends in short order.
I'm especially interested in their goal of building a thorough adverse event database and where they hold and aggregate the data and analyze patterns.
A few questions...
1. Do they plan to release the data to the public?
2. What do they gain from building this body of data about adverse events? Do they plan to become a consulting body for hospitals and other organizations about CQI?
We'll see. This is one to watch.
24.4.10
Strange Bucketfellows: The Colonel and Breast Cancer Research
And no, I did NOT buy a bucket ;)23.4.10
New CureTogether Research: Exercise "Popular and Effective" for Treating Depression...
But looks like a daily focus on sleep, talk therapy (BST anyone?) and personal growth workshops - along with small acts of microfitness - pack a powerful combo punch in fighting depression.
Amazing community-sourced research @accarmichael - and thanks for sharing it in a visualization where the import's easy to grasp.
22.4.10
The Problem Every Behavior Change Platform Should Shed Blood, Sweat, and Tears to Have...
Interesting - after using the brilliant #getupandmove for 4 months, running is so integrated into my life that I no longer need the app #qs
To build something so useful at providing social support and helping motivate behavior change that -
YOUR. USERS. OUTGROW. YOU.
Wow, this is a first.
The good news: #getupandmove is WORKING.
The bad news: most of us fall off the wagon after a bit (cough cough Susannah, self).
(Notice I do not believe the bad news is people stop wanting to #getupandmove, or stop wanting to use our platform).
Unfortunately, the bad news is that behavior change maintained over time takes anywhere from 18-260+ days, depending on your personality, environmental variables, and a whole host of factors we don't currently know how to track and then optimize.
Right now at Get Up and Move we're taking a look at how to build a kick-a#$ platform that:
1. helps guammies "level up," or go from individual/1x use;
2. lets you discover a fun new occasional activity you then repeat (like bed jump challenges or reading an article);
3. builds you up to prep for hitting a goal with a group (like our Bay to Breakers crew training - and I use the word loosely - in San Francisco);
4. and then helps you maintain (routinize) healthy microchoices you personally find fun and valuable, like Alex's running.
How can we do this?! That's a damn good question.
Alex's achievement represents our ultimate goal - building a platform that 'plugs in' near-real-time, extrinsic social support so useful that you no longer need it...motivation to move becomes internalized, intrinsic.
You own your goals. You own your microchoices. And you use them to be, well, better. .
That's the point where we think you can do one of several things:
1. you can pay it forward and challenge a friend or family member. (1:1);
2. you can adopt new guammies. (1: many - we're working on 'groups' features to help with this sort of thing);
3. you can motivate others to make micromovement a part of their daily decision tree so they too can see macro results.
But hell, why stop at achieving just one?
Speaking of which, I'm heading back offline to remind myself why we're so focused on building this online support platform.
See you all on the road to better health.
And may you too, one day, no longer need us ;).
Jen
Andrey
21.4.10
Genomics Keeps Getting More Exciting: Forget DNA. Give Proteomics a Pass...
U.S. and Swedish scientists say they've discovered tiny bits of genetic material known as microRNAs can move from one cell to another.
MicroRNAs were first characterized during the early 1990s as regulating the activity of genes within cells. Now researchers at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, in collaboration with the Universities of Helsinki and Uppsala, have shown microRNAs can move from one cell to another to send signals that influence gene expression
on a broader scale.The scientists said they made the discovery while investigating the intricate details of plant root development in Arabidopsis, a highly studied mustard plant. Although the researchers haven't determined how the microRNAs travel, they said it appears the mobility allows them to play an important developmental role in sharpening the boundaries that define one plant tissue from another.
"To our knowledge, this is the first solid evidence that microRNAs can move from one cell to another," Professor Philip Benfey, director of the Duke IGSP Center for Systems Biology, said.
The finding adds microRNAs to the list of mobile molecules -- including hormones, proteins and other forms of small RNA -- that allow essential communication between cells in the process of organ development.
RNA is where it's at...(or, at least, where it's heading).
From: "Study shows micro-rna's can move - UPI.com."
Why am I working so hard/fast/furious on Contagion and Get Up and Move?
Because, after some crazy group of folks saves healthcare, someone has to focus the genomics sect on something other than RNA therapies.
My next startup will work with practical applications of the RNA-centric genoanthropology theory.
I love startup Halcyon Molecular, but until someone has the microscopy to show us RNA action/movement in real time, we won't really know what we're missing.
DNA molecules are the cars on the highway, but RNA are the drivers.
Walking the Walk
There are two types of people: those that talk the talk and those that walk the walk. People who walk the walk sometimes talk the talk but most times they don't talk at all, 'cause they walkin'. Now, people who talk the talk, when it comes time for them to walk the walk, you know what they do? They talk people like me into walkin' for them.
From "Hustle & Flow."
Lesson of the day: Walk the walk. Then, don't let yourself get talked into walking someone ELSE's walk. (Harder than it sounds).
19.4.10
Social Games for Health Players Mean Move FAST: Wellness Companies, Are You Ready to Update 1x/Week?
He also noted that the company’s games like Pet Society and Restaurant City are updated once a week “reacting to players and testing that sense of the game being alive. It keeps people there and when we launch new features they will tell you right away if they like it or not.”
Mr Segerstrale also noticed that this frequent interaction with players means the company is able to understand their likes and dislikes better.
“We are developing a long-term relationship with a specific user and that means if someone is a hardcore Pet Society player, chances are we shouldn’t push Gangster City at them.”
Mr Perry saw the value in that and seemed to suggest that, in the future, perhaps Facebook will need social gaming more than social gaming will need Facebook.
“The thing is you are now building on a platform and your platform is your community. That is why you will survive.”
From: "Spotlighting social gaming — World's Geekiest Dad | World's Geekiest Dad."
I was speaking with a venture capitalist last week about the social gaming for health space.
The ability to move fast, listen to users, and adapt quickly by releasing new features (or ruthlessly pruning ones that don't work) is one reason why larger, entrenched companies are hesitant to give up choice and control and allow 2 way challenges.
Even the most advanced, forward-thinking health insurers and medication reminder groups I know are still thinking that 'prescriptive' challenges issued by an authority figure - like your doc or a disease management nurse paid to give you a call to see if you're taking your pills - is the ideal way to go.
At Contagion, we think that's a bunch of bunk. The people who know you best - friends and family - these are the people who can provide the motivational support, in real time, that we need to make healthier daily microchoices.
Programming for contagious wellness is the only way to go, but it means you've got to:
1. Be willing to give choice and control BACK to your users;
2. Admit early when your assumptions are wrong;
3. Recognize quickly when you've baked in your own biases to platform design;
4. Move quickly to do all of the above.
Community Managers become vital 'software' in social gaming startups for precisely these reasons. The human machine/human code interactions are only one piece of the puzzle.
Being an active part of your community is another (this will, luckily, be a default if you build something to solve one of your own problems).
Health insurers, how many of you USE your own wellness portals on a weekly basis? If you haven't built something you want to use, what makes you think we will?
18.4.10
My Guammies Keep Me Honest...
Sent from my iPhone14.4.10
You've Got Five Minutes...
Sent from my iPhone13.4.10
CBT Via the URLs - Treatment for Depression Online May Be as Effective as Group-Based Therapy IRL
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) via the internet is just as effective in treating panic disorder (recurring panic attacks) as traditional group-based CBT. It is also efficacious in the treatment of mild and moderate depression. This according to a new doctoral thesis soon to be presented at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
From: "Panic disorder and depression can be treated over the Internet."
There's a great short story by Anne McCaffrey about a female psych/compsci student named Nora Fenn, who in a course discovers a lower incidence of psychosis and need for CBT after computer journaling became commonplace (cough cough socially acceptable catharsis on Twitter and Facebook anyone?).
Note: I think the collection of short stories is Get Off the Unicorn, and I highly recommend it as required reading for any self-respecting female scifi/fantasty geek.
Seems like Nora Fenn got it right. Some similar incidences in the cathartic value of sharing experiential patient narratives has surfaced in my Redefining Patienthood work as a Kisaut Fellow at the Health Strategy Innovation Cell.
The power of using "I" based narratives, and the opportunity to share them at will for community referential value, seems to have as yet unquantified cathartic gains for individual users.
Someday soon, someone's going to figure out the power of combining "I" and "you" to drive behavior change. Oh wait, @shazow, sound familiar? :)
I want this doctoral thesis candidate as a Contagion researcher. Anyone speak Swedish?
9.4.10
Get Up and Move Featured on Crosscurrents (KALW News/NPR)!
From: "Crosscurrents: April 8, 2010 | San Francisco Bay Area News - Crosscurrents from KALW."
Giving some guammie-love to @joemfbrown, who introduced Get Up and Move to Crosscurrents and KALW news yesterday!
Note: Skip ahead to 10:50 for Joe's segment on local SF tech innovations. #getupandmove appears right around 13:30!
"Whenever we can bleed that social networking on the web and social networking in the real world, it's good."
For @chimoose
Billboard in SFO. Sent from my iPhone6.4.10
Trying Daytum: Why Self-Tracking Just Ain't Doin' the Job
5.4.10
Secret Garden, Somewhere Along Howard Street, Downtown San Francisco
Sent from my iPhone3.4.10
#getupandmove Looks HOT on Ur New iPad!!!!
Doing crunches for @litomikey with the iPad hitching a ride on my abs ;) Sent from my iPhone
1.4.10
Lesson for Health Tech Types - Don't Take Yourselves Too Seriously...
From the awesome team at ZocDoc.com...
@karsten, you guys really outdid yourselves on this one.
Also, note to startups looking for interns; do they get to do fun stuff like this?!
31.3.10
Surprise - Health is Social; Relationships Beat Out IT...
Researchers examined the records of 568 patients at 24 New Jersey primary-care practices participating in a study on improving colorectal cancer screening and concluded that the “relationship-centered aspects” of the medical home model “are more highly correlated with preventive service delivery” than were “information technology capabilities.” Of the practices in the study, 46% used electronic health records, though it's unknown what functions were used and how long the systems were in place.
@fackeldeyfinds you remain visionary with 'hotealthcare' circa 2007.
30.3.10
Maybe We're Doing Something Right...
From: "Fred Wilson’s 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps | Carsonified."
Shoutout to our amazing UX/UI designer guru @limedaring for sharing this video of Fred.
Skip ahead to 7:14...
27.3.10
A Lesson in Problem-Solving, From an Unexpected Source...
Preparing for our YCombinator interview (Monday) reminds me of cramming for exams in college.
You *know* you know the stuff, but writing it out on notecards repeatedly somehow helps you own the knowledge. It gifts you with a greater sense of perceived control.
I can't control whether or not we'll get into YC, but I sure as hell can control how we respond to some of the invaluable questions YC folks (PG especially) have raised about our business and growth.
So one problem I'm wrapping my noodle around this weekend is increasing the viral coefficient of #getupandmove.
In the midst of trying to graph out sectors, pick 'dream' potential partners, and generally figure out what the hell Google Analytics 'funnel' view is showing me, I happened upon a nifty lesson in perseverance and problem-solving.
This octopus is better at it than most bipedal homo-sapiens I know...
She boils it down to three essentials:
1. What I have
2. What I want
3. Try, fail, try again (iterate).
Off to figure out how to re-combine what we have (awesome guammies) with what we want (more awesome guammies).
Oh, and will someone please pass the coconut water?
25.3.10
Health: Yup, it's a Social Thing. Especially if You've Got a Chronic Condition...
“People have good and bad days, and they don’t know a good day’s going to come Wednesday at 5 o’clock when a live support group is meeting,” Ms. Connell said. “The Internet is a great outlet for people to be honest.”
Not surprisingly, according to Pew, Internet users with chronic illnesses are more likely than healthy people to use the Web to look for information on specific diseases, drugs, health insurance, alternative or experimental treatments and depression, anxiety or stress.
But for them, the social aspects of the Web take on heightened importance. Particularly if they are homebound, they also look to the Web for their social lives, discussing topics unrelated to their illnesses. Some schedule times to eat dinner or watch a movie while chatting online.
From: "Online Social Networks Bridge Gaps for Chronically Ill - NYTimes.com."
