David Hamilton over at the VentureBeat wrote an article, as he reports from the Health 2.0 Conference (we’re not attending this year, and frankly, forgot exactly what Health 2.0 means). The piece is titled The Health 2.0 glut, and how one startup adapts. He notes that many internet startups nowadays are doing the same old variations on themes that don’t seem to work very well in the internet’s health business.
We’re also a little dubious about the future for many of these startups, be it social networks for patients, doctor rating services, tagging platforms, doctors locators/schedulers, and others. To illustrate the point, check out some of the press releases that came out in the last couple of days touting Health 2.0 websites:
eDrugSearch.com Launches Social Network for Prescription Drug Consumers
eDrugSearch.com, the trusted search engine for Americans seeking medications from prescreened international pharmacies, has expanded its mission by unveiling the eDrugSearch.com Community, a new social network for prescription drug consumers.
“U.S. consumers who want access to prescription drugs at fair, affordable prices have long had the odds stacked against them,” said Cary Byrd, president and founder of eDrugSearch.com. “We started eDrugSearch.com to level the playing field, giving consumers a safe way to find low-cost prescription drugs online from Canadian and other non-U.S. pharmacies.
“Now, by creating the eDrugSearch.com Community, we are moving beyond specialized search to enable our members to share information about their experiences, both with online prescriptions and online pharmacies. Our Health 2.0 community will empower members to make better decisions for themselves and for their families.”
The First Web 2.0 Pharmaceutical News Portal
World Pharma News project is launching a Web 2.0 pharmaceutical news platform, named as well World Pharma News but with attached ‘.net’ extension. Web 2.0 generally represents knowledge-oriented social-networking platforms focused first of all on collaborative approaches.
Look, we’re not crotchety old curmudgeons. We like the web, and understand the power of social networks. But we also have some insight into their limitations — which is why these press releases leave us a little underwhelmed and confused.
So if you’re waiting for the day when you can join the eMedgadget 2.0 .Net community search portal, so you can share stories about all the medical devices your body has rejected, well, you might be waiting a while.