(2010-10-12) Sharecare Health Info Includes Sponsors

Sharecare Com is about to arrive, offering what its proprietors call an interactive social Q.& A. platform to provide consumers with what they want to know on health and wellness subjects — with the A’s being contributed by, among others, marketers.

Still, some visitors looking for objective answers to questions on health matters may raise their eyebrows at the presence of marketers. For instance, in a demonstration of the Web site on Wednesday, a reporter saw that among the questions being answered by Dove, on topics like treating varicose veins and the effects of tanning beds, was one asking why good skin care is important. “I’m sure there will be people who do that,” Jeff Arnold, chairman and chief architect at Sharecare in Atlanta, said of potential eyebrow-lifters. But in tests of the Web site in the last year, “the brand answers were read as much as the expert answers,” he added.

Sharecare was formed by a consortium that includes Mr. Arnold, who founded WebMD and later was chief executive of HowStuffWorks.com when it was sold to Discovery Communications; Dr Oz, whose career as a health care arbiter was made by Oprah Winfrey; Harpo Productions, Ms. Winfrey’s company; Sony Pictures Television, a unit of the Sony Corporation that co-owns “The Dr. Oz Show” with Ms. Winfrey; and Discovery, a partner with Ms. Winfrey in OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable channel to be introduced in January.

Science Blogs all over again?