AOL bulks up Health site with new content partnerships

By Michael Hatamoto | Published July 22, 2008, 1:01 PM

Faced with an uncertain future and struggling ad business, AOL is bulking up its AOL Health Web site, adding Caring.com, Health.com and HealthCare.com as three new partners.

HealthCare.com offers a list of more than 1 million medical doctors across the United States, depending on location, medical specialty, and health insurance plan; Caring.com features articles and guides on how to care for elderly patients; and Health.com offers articles, tips, images, videos and health tips for patients.

AOL says it seeks to create a "comprehensive network" of health-related information for families, but it still ranks far below competitors in terms of users. A slowdown in Internet advertising is also hurting the company, and parent Time Warner is reportedly trying to sell off the AOL unit entirely.

AOL launched AOL Body, which is now AOL Health, more than one year ago, but rebranded the site in an attempt to snap up more readers by expanding content to include different types of health care and fitness.

AOL Health is part of AOL's Living network, which also includes AOL Food, AOL Home, ParentDish, and StyleList. comScore statistics indicate the AOL Living network recorded as many as 16 million unique visitors last month.

Content sharing between different health sites is not uncommon, with RevolutionHealth.com, started by AOL co-founder and former CEO Steve Case, making several acquisitions and creating new partnerships to help it expand. AOL Health will share advertising revenue only with Health.com, and did not disclose why the others will not be included in the deal.

WebMD and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) remain the two most popular health sites on the Internet, with AOL Health not even in the top 10 health sites in the world. With so much ground to cover to make an impact, AOL Health will likely sign other partnerships to broaden its content in the future, but AOL officials did not disclose any future plans.

View comments by with a score of at least

Microsoft launches Office 2010 technical beta a few days early

A big week for Microsoft starts off with an out-of-sync surprise: the early release of the Office Technical Beta ahead of the launch keynote.

PDC 2009 Day 0: Vista is through

If there was any doubt in your mind that Microsoft is putting Vista behind it, the first session at PDC would eliminate it for good.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile launches on WinMo 6.0 and 6.1

No longer isolated to Windows Mobile 6.5, the Windows Phone app store has opened up to older versions of Windows Mobile.

Samsung releases another Android: where will it fit in with Bada approaching?

Samsung today announced the Galaxy Spica, sequel to its first Android handset destined for Europe and Asia.

Twitter to abandon 'politically biased' suggested user list

Twitter's suggested list of users to follow will be going away, says co-founder Biz Stone.

The Internet can still be a positive force, World Wide Web Foundation says

Sir Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web Foundation has launched worldwide operations.

Blockbuster's way down, but poised for a comeback

Though it took a serious beating in 2009, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes says the company can turn it around.

iTunes Preview doesn't go far enough to create Web-based option for store

Apple has rolled out iTunes Preview, a Web interface for browsing iTunes.

PDC 2009 Preview: The move to Office 2010 and Visual Studio 2010

The major focus of Microsoft's conference next week will likely be explaining why two pillars of its software sales strategy deserve to remain where they are.

Dell's first smartphone aids the Android onslaught

Longtime PC leader Dell has finally announced its Android-based smarphone.

After the Intel + AMD armistice: Do we really want a level playing field?

Scott Fulton On Point: One by one, the reasons for us to continue suspending the course toward open and fair competition in IT, are dropping like flies.