in the united states healthmap, a freely available website and mobile app software is using data philanthropy related tactics to track the outbreak of diseases. healthmap analyzes data from publicly available media sources such as news websites, government alerts, and social media sites like twitter for outbreaks of various illnesses around the world. the creators of healthmap have another website, flu near you, which allows users to report their own health status on a weekly basis. traditional flu surveillance can take up to 2 weeks to confirm outbreaks. doctors must wait for virological test to confirm the outbreak before reporting it to the centers for disease control. this form of data philanthropy allows for up to date information regarding various health concerns by using publicly available information gathered from news outlets, government alerts, and social media sites. it is the data gathered on social media sites, where users are not aware their data is being mined that leads to healthmap and flue near you being considered data philanthropy.