The news of the day is that Google has just acquired Zagat. Now Zagat is known for it's restaurant surveys but it also has an interesting side business in applying that survey expertise and the power of a dedicated audience to the Health industry. Anthem, a BlueCross BlueShield affiliate first adopted Zagat for ratings in the California region but has expanded it to other Anthem-owned affiliates.
With Google's acquisition of Zagat it raises interesting questions about how Google might push further in to Healthcare ratings. I also like Robert Scoble's post on GooglePlus about the benefits for GooglePlus - because going in to a Restaurant is an inherently social activity. People are already sharing those experiences on facebook, Twitter and now Google Plus. Lots of Synergies....
Health may not (yet) be as social but there is a need for more information transparency to help consumers make better health decisions as they have more control/responsibility over their health spending...
Here was the content of Robert's Google Plus post.
- 12:01 PM (edited) - Public
So you can see what +Marissa Mayer and Google just bought, here's where I meet with +Nina Zagat and they show me their new mobile apps. They have the best database of restaurant information in the world.This makes Google's fight with Yelp far more interesting too.Why did I say this ties into Google+? Because the act of going to a restaurant is SOCIAL. I already see tons of people posting restaurant and food photos in here. I already see people reviewing restaurants in here. There are lots of ways to tie restaurant data into our social streams. Good purchase by Google!Related: +Marissa Mayer posted the news this morning here:https://plus.google.com/118207880179234484610/posts
youtube.com – What's the best restaurant guide company? Zagat. Been at it for 30 years and they have the most complete databases of great places around the world. Did...