A Social Network for Hypochondriacs

Sickweather is hoping 'symptom-targeted' ad dollars will follow

As winter approaches, Baltimore-based startup Sickweather is getting ready to forecast a different sort of cold front—and hoping to turn runny noses, coughs, and fevers into a healthy revenue stream.

Part disease-tracking data collector and part social network, Sickweather follows in the Google Flu Trends, which uses aggregated search data to estimate flu activity. But Sickweather is taking that logic a few steps further. By culling data from an array of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the startup hopes to build an audience of users who want to know what ailments are striking in their area—the perfect space for marketers of health-related products to place ads.

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