????網(wǎng)絡(luò)社交游戲能幫助人們對抗肥胖嗎？它能幫助企業(yè)遏制員工醫(yī)療保健費用節(jié)節(jié)攀升的勢頭嗎？

????這正是創(chuàng)業(yè)家亞當(dāng)?博斯沃斯的創(chuàng)業(yè)理念。他是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)行業(yè)的老手，曾效力于微軟（Microsoft）和谷歌（Google）。他創(chuàng)立的Keas網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司旨在提升健身、健康飲食的趣味性——或者至少不那么折磨人。

????Keas原是新西蘭一種鳥類的名字，發(fā)音為kee-ahs。公司設(shè)在舊金山，其基于網(wǎng)絡(luò)的應(yīng)用以企業(yè)為目標(biāo)客戶，由企業(yè)向其員工推廣。公司員工們可以五六個人一組組隊參加競賽，組員們獲取積分的方式包括：在線回答關(guān)于健康食品的問題、工間抽空休息片刻緩解壓力、或者完成每周攝入水果蔬菜、睡眠當(dāng)然還有鍛煉等方面的目標(biāo)。通過一個類似于Facebook動態(tài)消息推送（news feed）的界面，參與者的所有相關(guān)活動都會彼此分享，團隊成員或競爭對手可以發(fā)表評論、給予口頭表揚或者互相督促。

????Keas的收費標(biāo)準是每個用戶每年12美元，企業(yè)可對網(wǎng)站進行個性化設(shè)置，并選擇是否向贏得競賽的團隊發(fā)放獎勵以及發(fā)什么形式的獎勵。“略微改變?nèi)藗兊男袨槭强尚械模仨氉屗麄冇X得過程足夠有趣，”博斯沃斯說。他曾負責(zé)運營現(xiàn)已停止的谷歌健康項目，即這家搜索巨頭試圖創(chuàng)建網(wǎng)絡(luò)醫(yī)療記錄的服務(wù)：“人們往往難以堅持到底，這時候就得靠社交機制幫他們重燃激情。”

????初步應(yīng)用的結(jié)果頗為喜人。建筑巨頭柏克德（Bechtel）推行的大規(guī)模保健計劃中就包含了Keas。遍布44個國家的8,000名員工同意使用該服務(wù)，在最初的12周中，就有約一半的員工報告稱體重有所下降。進步軟件（Progress Software）的成果更加突出，該公司約有600名員工參與，三分之二的人報告體重出現(xiàn)下降，三分之一稱壓力有所緩解，還有數(shù)十人稱減少了不健康食品的攝入量。進步軟件人力資源總監(jiān)喬?安德魯斯稱：“如果和別人一起參與，就會形成彼此支持的機制。它的影響非常巨大。”

????不過，有專家警告稱，盡管Keas等健康應(yīng)用潛力喜人，我們?nèi)员仨毧陀^看待。“任何行為的短期改變都是可能實現(xiàn)的，”加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校（UCLA）公共健康學(xué)教授托尼?彥西稱：“真正的困難的是讓人們長時間的改變其行為模式。”

????盡管企業(yè)保健應(yīng)用的總體功效還有待驗證，它們?nèi)栽谘杆倨占埃糠衷蛟谟冢S多投資者都認為可以利用社交游戲開發(fā)商Zynga帶動的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)熱潮來對抗肥胖。Keas已經(jīng)從投資者那里募集了1,750萬美元，其競爭對手包括理查德?布蘭森的維珍集團旗（Virgin Group）下的維珍健康里程（Virgin HealthMiles）及紅磚健康（Red-Brick Health）等。這話聽來可能有些違反直覺，但如果依托于游戲模式的保健公司最終能夠取得成功，它們或許還得感謝農(nóng)場鄉(xiāng)村（FarmVille）或黑幫戰(zhàn)爭（Mafia Wars）等懶人最愛的游戲，因為正是它們帶來了這個商機。

????譯者：小宇

????Can an online social game help fight obesity? Can it help businesses put a lid on ever-growing employee health care bills?

????That's the bet entrepreneur Adam Bosworth, a veteran of Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG), is making with Keas, an online service that aims to make exercising and eating your vegetables more fun -- or at least a little less painful.

????San Francisco-based Keas (pronounced kee-ahs, it is named for a bird found in New Zealand) sells its web-based app to companies, which in turn push it out to their employees. Co-workers form teams of five or six and enter a competition in which members earn points by answering online quizzes about healthy foods, taking breaks at work to reduce stress, and meeting weekly goals for eating fruits and vegetables, sleeping, and, of course, exercising. All the activities are shared among participants on a Facebook-like news feed, where teammates and rivals can comment, give verbal pats on the back, or urge each other on.

????Keas charges $12 per user for a year and lets companies personalize the site and choose what rewards, if any, they give to winning teams. "You can change people's behavior a little, but you have to make it fun for them," says Bosworth, who previously ran Google Health, the search giant's now defunct effort to create online medical records. "People will fall off the wagon, and that's when you need a social mechanism to help them climb back on."

????Early results are encouraging. Bechtel, the construction giant, deployed Keas as part of a larger wellness initiative. About 8,000 employees in 44 countries signed up, and roughly half reported losing weight over an initial 12-week period. At Progress Software (PRGS), of some 600 employees who signed up, two-thirds reported losing some weight, one-third said they were less stressed, and scores said they pared down unhealthy foods. "If you are engaged with others and you have a support mechanism, it is going to have a tremendous impact," says Joe Andrews, who heads human resources at Progress.

????But experts warn that while promising, health apps like Keas should be put in perspective. "You can change behavior for a short time with just about anything," says Toni Yancey, professor of public health at UCLA. "Where the pedal hits the metal is in getting people to change behavior for the long term."

????Despite questions about their overall efficacy, corporate wellness apps are proliferating in part because many investors are betting that the social-gaming wave popularized by Zynga (ZNGA) can be harnessed to fight obesity. Keas, which has raised $17.5 million from investors, competes with Virgin HealthMiles, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, and Red-Brick Health, among others. It seems counterintuitive, but if game-based health companies succeed, they may have couch-potato favorites such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars to thank.