My Internship Experience at Sharecare
This past semester, I had the super awesome opportunity to be an editorial intern with an up and coming healthcare tech company called Sharecare. They are described as a ”healthcare informatics platform” which helps users identify their symptoms and make better choices to improve their health.
A post shared by L I E M (@h0_bag) on Jan 24, 2017 at 7:39am PST
Office views on a rainy day.
I like to think of it as the “Facebook” of healthcare—you can make an account on the website, and after syncing your Facebook profile or giving your email address, you are asked to take a RealAge test which compares your biological age to what your age of the average person is with your level of fitness. Dr. Mehmet Oz from the Dr. Oz show is one of the co-creators of this test. There is also an app you can download which gives you tips to improve your health, and you can also track the number of steps you walk in a day!
I am 19 years old according to my RealAge test results.
As an editorial intern, I helped the design team create health and fitness related infographics, articles, and slideshows. We sometimes interview and collaborate with doctors from partner health networks to create articles and slideshows too. One of my favorite slideshows I had the opportunity to produce is this one about 100 Snacks Under 100 Calories.
I usually get to the office at around 8-9 AM to send out a “daily news” email which entails of a list of trending health/fitness related articles for the day. This helps the writers on the content team determine what health stories are trending—relevant content from the Sharecare website can be promoted on social media. This also helps content producers come up with ideas for article, slideshow or infographic pitches. Once a month, the content producers on the content team have a pitch meeting to discuss
At 10 AM, the team has a “daily stand up” meeting in which everyone goes around the room and talks about what they will be working on for the day and any news stories that piqued their interest, or ideas for content that need to be updated based on any new health/fitness related findings. The content team is split in Jersey City and Atlanta, Georgia, and so the team down in Atlanta is called too. It’s super cool—I haven’t had a chance to meet the intern, Lea, in person, but sometimes we chat during the day and bounce ideas off of each other. Hopefully I’ll get to meet her soon!
This is the editorial intern for the Atlanta team--Lea is sipping her coffee at her cubicle...just another day in the life
After the daily stand up meeting, everyone just works on their assigned content. We work with editors in office to make sure ideas are communicated with grammatical accuracy and brevity, and then Dr. Eric Steinmehl fact checks our produced content to make sure the information is accurate, and after, publishing team down in Atlanta publishes the content on the website.
As an editorial intern at Sharecare, I can definitely say for sure I’ve learned a lot. Even though I’m only in the office two days a week, I still have had the opportunity to learn from editors, and even all of the articles I read every time I’m in the office. From sending the daily news emails, I’ve learned to skim a high volume of articles to quickly pin point the main ideas to summarize and send to the editors within a short period of time. I’ve also learned how to write faster and better—and I have some dope bylines too, which will help when applying for other internships and a full time job in the future. Also, I’ve learned the importance of finding legitimate sources and just fact checking to make sure all of the content we share with our audience is accurate. Lastly, with all of the health articles I’ve read, I can give you advice on many different things, from delicious and easy to make snacks that are low calorie, what foods are higher in fiber and can help you prevent gastroenteritis conditions and suppress food poisoning symptoms, the health benefits of planking, ways to sneak exercise into your day in the office, among other fun, kind of random and quirky fitness tips.
I’m really grateful that the content team at Sharecare has given me this internship opportunity—I have certainly learned a lot, and I’ve really enjoyed my time working with everyone. This experience has definitely prepared me for future work in communications and content production!
