Here’s how David E. Williams characterized PatientsLikeMe:
PatientsLikeMe is one of my favorite Health 2.0, social networking websites. The online community enables patients with serious illnesses to build content-rich connections to similar patients. Patients are motivated to provide all the relevant information about themselves and to stick with the site over time to help one another. As a consequence, PatientsLikeMe users collectively generate robust data sets that have the potential to generate meaningful insights for researchers and commercial entities. That leads to some interesting business opportunities for the company.
The interview provides great insight about PatientsLikeMe. Enjoy!
would it be possible, given the spirit of openness, for members of PLM to see your client list?
If by “client list” you mean our list of members, you can view the “Patients” tab to see the profiles of everyone who has joined PatientsLikeMe. When members join PatientsLikeMe, all of the information they choose to share is open throughout the site.
If you mean the contact information of our membership, in accordance with our Privacy Policy we do not disclose that information to any third parties. Doing so would violate the trust that patients and other members grant us through joining PatientsLikeMe.
sorry if i wasn’t clear – i was not asking for a list of members, but rather a list of clients, i.e., someone who pays for goods or services – in other word, the entities to whom PLM is selling the information solicited on the website.
Great question. As transparency is one of our core values, we will publish our client list in the About Us section of the site. At the moment, we have been focusing our time on developing the site and creating the best user experience for patients, caregivers, and other members, and less so on generating revenue. As we are a for-profit entity, we will pursue revenues at a later time.
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