Post details: Is RevolutionHealth's Revolution Dead?

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Is RevolutionHealth's Revolution Dead?

April 2nd, 2007

by Tony Chen

I was on the bandwagon, but now I'm off. Almost...

"Steve Case launching RevolutionHealth is like Napoleon invading Russia" - a prominent healthcare blogger

In my humble opinion, RevolutionHealth is suffering from the same malaise that 99% of most social media start-ups suffer from - user fatigue. There's always a lot of hype in the beginning, but if you don't have that "magical" formula that keeps people coming back, utilization drops off quickly. Sooner or later, the community just dies a slow death. Just look at their physician ratings - one month ago, there were at 4,600. Now, they are barely at 5,000.

Some companies try to revive or jump-start community by having their own folks be actively involved in the community - commenting on people's posts, engaging with people electronically. But inevitably, that's not real community. I can't be sure if RevolutionHealth did that, but why are so many of the commenters from McLean, VA?

2 more questions:
(1) is healthcare big enough in the average joe and jane's minds for it to be a viable social media by itself? I personally think so, but RevolutionHealth doesn't have it... yet.
(2) can you really apply the tried-and-true "put consumers in control, and you'll win" business strategy in healthcare?

Granted, it's still sort of the "trial period." But I've noticed that once you've launched and people have tried it out. It's that much harder to get people to try it again. They continue to say that they have some amazing partnerships will be announced. So we shall see.

Comments:

Comment from: Lavinia Weissman [Visitor] · http://www.workecology.com/redesign2
Tony, Sloane School of Manage now advises their graduates organizing social media networks that it takes 3 years before you can see any real participation and content that is designed for the people who sign on.

Perhaps because this was related to the founders for this group, who are distinguished, people had much higher hopes.

In my experience no social media activity works without the formation of a strong social network. This is why in my opinion S+B leveraged so successfully into the marketplacea and now S+B is expanding its web based operation after 9 years and considering a launch of a new magazine to partner with.

When I was in the Bay Area, I wrote a plan for something like Revolution Health Care but different. My investors wanted to turn it into a fastgrowth web based software biz. My mission was very different. It remains so and continues to very slowly form. With a recent offer to examine a partnership with RBC Dain to build my idea into an employee benefit, I now know the past 7 years would be no different. I just kept gaining experience for what I know possible and now WorkEcology may be at a wonderful turning point. It will be by design and not virtual at first. It will requiring that my alpha group build a strong relationship and trust before we move to the web if this flies.

Anyone interested in learning more can always arrange to talk with me by phone.
I am sorry to be so vague, but this formation grew out of something simple.

I gave my elevator pitch in 1998 to a RBC Dain partner. He remembered me when he finally got an inquiry from a large employer two weeks ago and we are now thoughtfully at work.

Best,
Lavinia
Permalink 04/04/07 @ 03:51
Comment from: Emily DeVoto [Visitor] · http://health-counterspin.blogspot.com
I've not looked at the whole Revolution Health site, only the part that interested me: rating docs and hospitals. I have a big problem with it. There are intensive, ongoing national efforts to provide meaningful information for consumers on the quality of health care (e.g., Hospital Compare, sponsored by Medicare, and NCQA, just to name a couple). The anecdotal, anonymous, potentially biased, nonscientific comments and ratings on Revolution Health undercut those efforts. Isolated, trumped-up anecdotes can also hurt hospitals that are operating in good faith to improve quality.
Permalink 04/16/07 @ 12:43

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