It’s a small world after all.

One thing I really enjoy about this social marketing thing is that once in a while you run into some amazing people that love what you do.  And then you find out they know each other.  One of our first Playnormous fans is Amy Jussel, Founder and Executive Director of Shaping Youth. One of our most recent advocates is Andre Blackman, owner of another blog called Pulse & Signal.  Come to find out, Amy and Andre know each other.  In fact, Amy was one of Andre’s mentors.  What a small world!  Andre and Amy both attended the Health 2.0 Conference this past month in San Francisco.  Unfortunately I missed this one, but Andre was kind enough to record several of the presentations.  Including ours! Better yet, he’s given me permission to post this video on Monster’s Blog. Thank you, Andre!  But before we get to the clip, I’d like to give you a little information about our two good friends at Pulse & Signal and Shaping Youth.

Pulse & Signal merges health and technology with action.

Andre Blackman is the owner of Pulse & Signal, a blog that features commentary on the impact and potential uses of technology on health communication and social marketing.  Andre’s goal is to ensure that the public is informed about the choices they have regarding their health in this new era of user-generated content and Web 2.0 tools.  He firmly believes that it’s up to us to make our health better, and it’s time for us to make that change for a better tomorrow.  I couldn’t agree more.

I really enjoy Andre’s blog because he focuses on health communication and health marketing.  Health issues + effective communication + scientific theory + business savvy + creativity.  That’s what I like.  We come from the same world, Andre and I, one that is not well understood and is relatively unknown to the average person.  It’s always very exciting to find someone who knows what you’re talking about.  We also have similar tastes in reading material including Well by Tara Parker-Pope, Chris Brogan, Health 2.0 Blog and of course, Shaping Youth.  Check out Andre’s first Pulse & Signal post Who IS this guy? to learn more about him and his blog.

Shaping Youth

Shaping Youth is a nonprofit concerned with media and marketing’s impact on kids.  Their focus is to shift harmful messages in a more positive direction with the help on industry insiders.  They do this without political, religious, or censorship agendas.  Well done!  I originally found Shaping Youth when I first started researching blogs that focused on Childhood Obesity.  Shaping Youth was one of them.

Amy Jussel is tackling this problem and many more by informing the public about the junk food market, consumerism, body image, and much more.  We are proud to call Amy and Shaping Youth a Friend of Playnormous.  Here are some of her amazing posts she’s written about us these past few months:

• Games For Health Regional Summit: Playnormous, Humana and More
• Health 2.0: Got Mercury?  Cellphone Tool for Fish Fanatics Like Me
• Kids’ Health 2.0: Get Your Head in the Game
• 150 Kids’ Virtual Worlds: 95 Live, 68 in R&D How Many Are Worthy?
• Media Rules!  Shaping Youth Interviews Brian Reich
• Flying Under the Radar: e-Health Innovators, Digital Darlings

The presentation.

Now, without further ado, the Health 2.0 Conference video of Richard’s presentation, courtesy of Andre at Pulse & Signal!

Health 2.0 Conference - Richard Buday of Playnormous and Archimage