Creating a Better Life

If you're new here, you may want to get free updates via email or RSS. Thanks for visiting!

[This is a paid review. Please see my Full Disclosure Statement for more information.]

“You Are Not Alone”

Those were the first words that jumped out at me as I began investigating Hopecube.com - Health Social Networking Site, a fairly new site that is leveraging the power of interactive, community driven technology to connect people with similar health conditions and interests in the health field.

In a nutshell, this is a MySpace style site that is centered around health, but without all of the stuff that makes a site like MySpace so annoying.

Signing up for the site is quick and easy. Username, Password, Email Address, Zip Code, Gender, and Birthday are all that are required. I really like their privacy policy - it basically says that they won’t ever share your information without your consent.

After signing up, you are asked to fill out your profile… pretty typical for a web based community. The thing that is different about Hope Cube is the huge database of health conditions they’ve put together. You are asked to select the conditions that you either suffer from or are interested in and add them to your profile. If you select specific conditions, you’ll be able to meet other Hope Cube members who also have either an interest in or who suffer from the same issues.

One of the neat things about being a member of the site is the ability to send “encouragements” to others - little positive messages that are meant to uplift. After I’d been signed up for about a day, another member sent one to me. It was the following quote from Helen Keller:

“The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful, if there were no dark valleys to traverse.”

That was a pretty neat thing to wake up to.

Health care professionals can also sign up, and offer their services to members. The Health Professionals list is pretty slim right right now, but since the site is still being developed, I’m sure it will grow.

As a member, you also have the ability to ask questions and get answers from your fellow Hope Cube members. Once again, the list of questions and answers is fairly short, but if the site catches on, this could become a fabulous resource.

Members are given their own blogs. You can either read them individually, or through the main blog page. Yet another resource for members to ask questions, get answers, and interact with the community.

—

Since it’s still in the beta phase and being developed, there are some things about the site that still need work. The overall look and feel of the site is pretty basic, but as I said earlier, it’s nice to have a web based community without all of the eye candy that many of the larger ones have. And as with any site that is user driven, it will take time for people to sign up and begin participating in the site for the amount of information to really expand.

But the creators of the site have done a great job of hooking into Wikipedia and multiple news feeds in the health conditions database. When it comes to content, that side of the coin is more than covered.

If you are looking for support and information on any health related condition, HopeCube.com should be one of your destinations. If the site continues to be developed, I think it will turn out to be an excellent resource.

Uncategorized
health, reviews