Inspire Launches National Online Health-and-Fitness Community
National Body Challenge Social Media Network Connects Members for Advice, Encouragement
McLean, Virginia---For anyone seeking support for losing weight, diet, and developing other healthy living habits, there are health clubs, gyms, personal trainers, magazines, and TV shows. And, increasingly, there’s the Internet.
Inspire, a Washington, DC area startup, has launched an online community to help fitness newbies and aficionados alike find advice and encouragement for reaching personal health goals. The social networking community was built in partnership with the National Body Challenge, a multi-media effort from Discovery Health, a division of Discovery Communications.
The Inspire-built community is located at http://community.discoveryhealth.com. It provides user-generated Web logs, (blogs); methods for making “friends”; discussion groups and other online tools that allow people to connect with one another and with experts for information and advice. Members, who join for free, include men and women of all ages, from all over the US, according to Brian Loew, an Inspire founder and its chief executive officer.
Members retain complete control over their own personal information but many choose to post public messages. Some seek “buddies” in the quest to lose weight; others ask for advice on topics ranging from “lifting weights and weight gain” or “that time of the month” to workouts appropriate for people with hypothyroidism, cancer and other serious health conditions.
Any member can have a blog. Recent postings include one by e.villaomez87, headlined “The Fat College Student-I don’t want to be her any more”; DPPOE’s “In need of gym advice”; and “Penney” on how a stem cell transplant saved her from losing a leg to vascular disease.
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Members may request advice from dieticians, fitness trainers and other professionals, who often take part in ongoing discussions—which are moderated by Inspire. Current topics include diabetes, depression, and “the psychology of food,” among others.
“We’re very pleased at the success of this exciting new community,” Loew said. “It demonstrates our belief that ‘together we’re better’.”
The community, which is funded by advertising, is one of more than 25 social networking sites developed by Inspire for health organizations and companies. Many have been built for non-profits at no charge.
Inspire has built communities for the ALS Association, Arthritis Foundation, Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, Association of Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders, Inc., Cancer Consultants, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Cardiac Arrhythmias Research and Education Foundation, National Cervical Cancer/HPV Coalition, Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health, Discovery Health National Body Challenge, Lung Cancer Alliance, National Ovarian Cancer Alliance, National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD), National Osteoporosis Foundation, Nephcure Foundation, Preemie Magazine, Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, VHL Family Alliance, US News and World Report, Wilson's Disease Association, International, Women and Cancer and WomenHeart.
Inspire, known until recently as ClinicaHealth, is a privately-held company based in McLean, Virginia.
