# Online Illness Detectors The Sickweather Site Tracks the Sickness in Your Area By Romina S. Cortellucci | Published 2012-06-21 | Lifestyle Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/sickweather-site References: [good.is](http://www.good.is/post/using-twitter-to-track-infectious-diseases/) & [sickweather](http://www.sickweather.com/) The Sickweather site uses the power of social media to track infectious diseases. The Baltimore-based website was created by Graham [Dodge](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/freo-z-ultra) as a way to provide an online social health network. The site provides a way to track and map illness, providing the possibility for sickness forecasting. Sickweather scans social media networks, such as [Twitter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/socialsignal-ai) and [Facebook](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/lexi-ai), looking for indicators of illness and capitalizing on people's post, using it as a way to prevent illness. The app then tracks these sites for mentions of the flu, allergies and 22 other symptoms and illnesses as well as giving their own site members the ability to update their sickness statuses. The site then uses an algorithm on this publicly available information so that health-concerned consumers can track diseases that trend in their communities. Founder Dodge believes that the site will eventually be able to predict disease outbreaks before they happen, providing a very useful resource for citizens. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 1.5/10 - Popularity: 24% | Activity: 13% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Lifestyle](https://www.trendhunter.com/lifestyle) > [Health](https://www.trendhunter.com/health) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **Social Media Disease Tracking:** Leveraging social media networks to track and map illness, providing the possibility for sickness forecasting. - **Preventive Health Monitoring:** Using online platforms to monitor sickness statuses and detect potential disease outbreaks before they happen. - **Predictive Disease Forecasting:** Developing algorithms to analyze publicly available information and predict disease outbreaks in communities. ### Where This Applies - **Healthtech:** Innovating in the field of healthcare technology to create platforms that use social media for disease tracking and forecasting. - **Social Media Analytics:** Providing tools and solutions for analyzing social media data to identify patterns and trends related to illness and disease. - **Community Health Management:** Addressing the need for online resources and platforms that enable citizens to actively participate in tracking, monitoring, and preventing disease outbreaks in their communities. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Local Pollen Trackers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pollen-count-tracker.md) - [Social Forum Insight Trackers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/snoopsco.md) - [Virus-Detecting Smartwatches](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/virusdetecting-smartwatch.md) - [COVID-Monitoring Health Apps](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/visible.md) - [Personal Health Trackers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/geohealth.md) - [Global Weather Trackers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/cityweatherin.md) - [Health-Focused Scavenger Hunts](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mucinex-scavenger-hunt.md) - [AI-Fuelled Disease Detections](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/health-acoustic-representations.md) - [Smell-Based Disease Detectors](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/diagnoze.md)