Healthcare Technology Featured Article

January 18, 2013

The mHealth Trend Continues


Living in such a technology-heavy society, where new products and trends are constantly being pumped from the industry, it’s easy to become so fixated on the virtual world that we forget about “real” activities (that don’t involve a digital screen).

To remind people of the importance of physical activities and their health, companies are creating new ways to capturing users’ attention through technologically advanced products. This trend has been coined mHealth (mobile health), and has garnered the attention of both the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare providers.

Fitocracy, a technology-based fitness company, created its own mHealth social media platform to communicate with its users to help them achieve their New Year’s resolutions.

According to Morrison & Foerster, the average Facebook user spends 6.75 generic hours per month using Facebook and the average Twitter user spends all of about 21 minutes per month using Twitter.

Taking into the account of how much time is spent on social media, Fitocracy created its own social network, where users can exchange information, set challenges, create group chats, set challenges and give and receive encouragement. The social media world is another way for users to communicate, or in the case of Fitocracy, find a support group.

In real life, there is nothing like receiving encouragement from your friends and family when trying to reach a goal. For the digital world, Fitocracy is the equivalent of that support group, except you can interact with more people and receive support from people all over the world sharing the same app.

The mobile trend, along with the mixing of social media platforms, is the route most industries are beginning to take, whether its healthcare, television or hospitality, as it is the way of the future. With each new application and development in the mobile world, the way companies function and market are changing to adapt to our mWorld.




Edited by Rich Steeves
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