New online destination provides a 360-degree social conversation on health;
'DARES' users to change their lives, help themselves and help others
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Demand Media, Inc., the
leading social media company, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) today
announced the launch of LIVESTRONG.COM. The new online destination is
designed to inspire people to change their lives, help themselves and help
others by offering online tools and relevant content from both experts and the
community. The website's goal is to encourage individuals to have a daily
conversation about their health, fitness and lifestyle.
A survey released today by LIVESTRONG.COM and fielded by Harris
Interactive(R) reveals that although 86% of Americans attempt changes to
improve their overall health, less than half of those who considered making
lifestyle changes (46%) are actually successful. "This website has been a very
ambitious undertaking because we want to help people take responsibility for
their health and change their lives for the better," explained Lance
Armstrong, LAF founder and chairman of the LIVESTRONG.COM advisory board.
"The reality of changing a specific behavior is that it has to happen every
day and it is almost impossible to do alone, especially without some measure
of motivation. We built LIVESTRONG.COM to enable a real conversation on health
and healthy living that is always evolving and where people can find support,
inspiration and guidance on how to successfully make those changes."
LIVESTRONG.COM launches with 15,000 professional articles and videos, more
than 350,000 nutritional food profiles and 50,000 health and fitness-related
questions and answers. This site was developed on the Demand Media platform,
which provides a complete and authentic online experience where users produce,
consume and interact with content based around their own passions and
interests.
"Working with Lance and the Foundation to launch LIVESTRONG.COM has been
our most exciting and inspiring venture to date," said Richard Rosenblatt,
Demand Media's co-founder, chairman and CEO. "We utilized our tools, platform
and broad experience in social media to develop a truly new approach to health
and healthy living. Relevant and impactful content, combined with engaging
social media tools, are the most important elements of building useful online
communities. With LIVESTRONG.COM, we are now able to extend that experience to
users seeking an active community of health-minded people."
Thousands of people previewed LIVESTRONG.COM prior to today's launch,
including many of the LAF Army members. These users provided the team with
feedback to fine tune many of the site's features, including its MY DARES
Application. Real time and user feedback will be integral to the continued
evolution of the site.
Users were also granted early access to the site via Google Health as one
of its initial launch partners. LIVESTRONG.COM, in cooperation with Google,
provides integrated tools that deliver additional content and community
features to consumers using Google Health via linking user accounts on both
sites. This collaboration allows users who create a Google Health profile the
ability to access and share relevant information directly related to their
health conditions, medications and interests specified on LIVESTRONG.COM.
When a new user signs up to LIVESTRONG.COM, they set up their own list of
goals which become DARES. These can range from simple, short-term DARES such
as "Jump Rope for Ten Minutes Every Day," to inspirational, long-term DARES
like "Run a Marathon." Once entered, the site dynamically serves up content
and community directly related to that DARE, so the user immediately has
information and real, live, people looking to take on similar challenges. The
MY DARES Application can also be transferable, so users can give a DARE to a
friend or family member via their email.
The LIVESTRONG.COM Advisory Board is also helping drive development of the
site. Chaired by Lance, the board includes Dr. Sanjay Gupta (chief medical
correspondent at CNN), Dr. Timothy S. Harlan (also known as Dr. Gourmet), Dr.
Micheal A. Clark (president and CEO of National Academy of Sports Medicine),
and Andy Miller (director of Survivorship Programs for the Lance Armstrong
Foundation). Through ongoing blogs, articles and tips the Advisory Board
members provide insight, challenges and compassion to inspire and motivate
LIVESTRONG.COM members to reach their goals and celebrate their achievements.
To view highlights of the LIVESTRONG.COM survey, visit:
http://www.livestrong.com/survey.
Methodology
Harris Interactive(R) fielded the study on behalf of LIVESTRONG.COM from
April 10-14, 2008, via its QuickQuery(SM) online omnibus service, interviewing
2,511 U.S. adults (ages 18 and over). Data were weighted to be representative
of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender,
education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online. No
estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology
is available.
About LIVESTRONG.COM
The LIVESTRONG brand has become a global movement dedicated to changing
the world through living well. Created by Demand Media(TM), in alliance with
The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), LIVESTRONG.COM is the definitive online
social conversation for health, fitness and lifestyle. Through trusted
content, interactive tools and an engaged community, LIVESTRONG.COM is
designed to inspire people to change their lives, help themselves and help
others. For additional information about LIVESTRONG.COM, please visit:
http://www.livestrong.com
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a
long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science
and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris
Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and
Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more
information, please visit http://www.harrisinteractive.com.
LIVESTRONG is a registered trademark of the Lance Armstrong Foundation in
the United States and other countries.
CNN is not affiliated with nor does it endorse Demand Media or the
LIVESTRONG.COM website.
(C) 2008 Demand Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Demand Media is a
trademark of Demand Media, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their
respective owners.
Press Contacts:
Wadooah Wali, LIVESTRONG.COM
wadooah@livestrong.com
310.717.6930
Quinn Daly, Demand Media
quinn@demandmedia.com
310.600.8005
Rose Maciejewski, Ruder Finn
maciejewskir@ruderfinn.com
310.717.3005
SOURCE LIVESTRONG.COM
Wadooah Wali of LIVESTRONG.COM, +1-310-717-6930, wadooah@livestrong.com; or
Quinn Daly of Demand Media, +1-310-600-8005, quinn@demandmedia.com; or Rose
Maciejewski of Ruder Finn, +1-310-717-3005, maciejewskir@ruderfinn.com, for
LIVESTRONG.COM
