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Online becoming top for Health keyword searches

By Andrew Redfern @ 16th January 2008 3:51 pm

iCrossing today announced the results of “How America Searches: Health & Wellness,” the latest in an ongoing series of studies commissioned by iCrossing to quantify how people search for and find information online.

The report provides insights into the habits of online U.S. adults seeking information about health topics.

The study finds that the Internet beats doctors as the most popular resource for healthcare information, but healthcare professionals still hold the upper hand in retaining consumers’ trust when addressing health-related issues and questions.

The study also finds that one-third of online health searchers use social media resources, and that search engines dominate as the starting point for health care searches.

The key findings are as follows

* Internet is the most widely used resource for health information: 59% of adults use online resources to obtain health and wellness information. 55% go to their doctors and 29% talk to relatives, friends or co-workers.

* Doctors retain patients’ trust: Not surprisingly, more than three-quarters of consumers named health care professionals (primary care physicians, specialists, nurses, and pharmacists) as their most trusted health resource. Internet resources, however, are considered by respondents more trustworthy than friends/coworkers, pharmaceutical companies and television.

* Social media an important health resource: 34% of health searchers use social media resources to delve into health-related topics, with Wikipedia, and online forums and message boards the most important individual tools. Social media holds a particular appeal for 18-to-34 year old health searchers, while overall, men appear more likely than women to use online social media to research health and wellness issues.

* General search engines dominate: Two-thirds of online adults have used general search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask) to find health-related information, making them the default gateway for this as well as many other topics; usage of health-specific search engines — such as Healia, Medstory, Fealth, Kosmix and Healthline — is minimal by comparison.

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