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Info sources aren't important for Web users

Healthcare Strategist Trend Watch, March 1, 2007

A study released this week by Envision Solutions, LLC, shows that many Americans trust the information they find online, regardless of what type of Web site the information comes from.

When one searches for health information, Web browsers will reveal both user-generated content sites (such as blogs and wikis) and sites developed by the government, non-profit organizations, or corporations, says the study by the New York City-based marketing and communications consulting firm. What kind of site it is seems to make little difference to Web browsers, as very few check to find out where a user-generated site got its information. Other key findings include:

· When Envision Solutions put popular healthcare searches into search engines such as Yahoo or Google, user-generated sites appeared on the first three pages of searches 88% of the time

· Online health searchers rely on the government, corporate, and non-profit Web sites for information

· Five percent of those searching online for information about the antidepressant Lexapro between December 2006 and January 2007 went to www.crazymeds.org, a blog that opines about the safety of psychiatric drugs

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