New Online Influencer Register ROHWI Launches to Combat Misinformation in Health and Wellness
LONDON, June 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today marks the launch of The Register of Health & Wellness Influencers (ROHWI), the first and only independent register for Influencers creating health and wellness content worldwide. The register was founded by WellSpoken and the Health Bloggers Community, to proactively manage growing concerns on the conduct and content produced by health and wellness influencers.
The research undertaken by the organisations behind the register found a growing number of people were dubious about the information shared online:
- 74% of consumers surveyed identified that the least trustworthy health and wellness information was found on social media1
- 76% of both brands and influencers surveyed indicated that stronger regulations would make them feel more secure and confident about working together on collaborations.2
The primary objective of the register is to protect public interest by ensuring that health and wellness influencers work to a high standard of practice when producing consumer content. Influencers also have a responsibility to work with brands in an ethical manner as well as being fully aware of how to be transparent about their advertising work.
Sarah Greenidge, founder of The WellSpoken Mark and co-founder of the register says, "The current lack of industry-specific legislation has meant that consumers and other stakeholders have been active players in holding influencers accountable. While there is an infinite number of ways in which credible content can be curated, our training and framework, will ultimately raise existing industry standards by ensuring that influencers now have a standardised way of working when it comes to content."
Fab Giovanetti, founder of the Health Bloggers Community and co-founder of the register says, "An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with their audience. These include, but are not limited to social media influencers, health bloggers and health writers. The main challenges seen with influencers in the wellness scene are poor quality information, irresponsible communications and inappropriate affiliations - this register aims to combat those issues head-on."
Pete Wells, ukactive and ROHWI council member says 'Credible information has the power to influence the consumer's decision-making process and drive positive uptake when it comes to choosing a wellness product or service to opt into. The impact of misinformation can be unthinkable, none more so than that concerning our health and wellbeing. This register is the first step in creating a tailored framework for health and wellness influencers to work towards."
About ROHWI
The register of Health & Wellness Influencers (ROHWI) is a voluntary register for influencers working in the field of health and wellness. Our council is supported by a network of specialist teams, advisory committees and partners. We regularly consult healthcare professionals and other key stakeholders, to get their views on the work we do. This is underpinned our core values: transparency, collaboration and responsiveness, and a commitment to offering credible health and wellness content to the public. Applications for the register are now open here: https://rohwi.org/join-the-register/
Press information
For more information please contact: Chelsea@welldefined.co.uk
References
- WellSpoken 2017 survey. .500 UK respondents. Data on file
- HBC 2018 Influencer Marketing for Wellness Report Q1
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