Harvard Health Publications, Publishers Weekly, Columbia Records, and McGraw-Hill Professional Select Gather.com for Exclusive Content and Conversation

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gather.com™, the leader in social media for adults, today announced multiple high-profile partnerships for expert participation on Gather.com. Each partner will provide authoritative, exclusive expert involvement in Gather.com’s nine content channels. These channels, branded Gather Essentials™, include: Books, Food, Health, Money, Movies, Music, News, Politics, and Travel. The first partnership announcements include Harvard Health Publications (a division of Harvard Medical School) for the Health channel, Publishers Weekly for the Books channel, Columbia Records for the Music channel, and McGraw-Hill Professional for the Money channel. Through these partnerships, Gather.com provides its members access and engagement to exclusive, original content from experts. Gather.com members will be invited to engage these well-known subject matter experts in an active online conversation.

“The goal of all of our publications is to bring the public, from anywhere and at any time, the most current practical, authoritative health information available, drawing on the expertise of the 9,000 faculty physicians at the Harvard Medical School and its world-famous affiliated hospitals,” said Anthony Komaroff, M.D., Editor in Chief and Publisher at Harvard Health Publications. “Gather.com gives us a dynamic environment to bring this information to life and to create an ongoing dialogue with the public.”

“Publishers Weekly will bring the Gather.com community behind the scenes in the world of publishing,” says David Nudo, Publisher, Publishers Weekly. “On Gather.com, our experts will not only share what they discover, but learn about what booklovers worldwide think and want to know. This information is invaluable to us.”

“We’re excited about the opportunity to work with Gather.com to promote Columbia Records artists and new releases. By taking advantage of Gather.com’s unique community and discussion forums for adults, we’re confident that Gather.com can teach grown-ups what their kids have known for years— interacting with your favorite recording artists online can be a lot of fun,” said Samantha Saturn, Vice President, Digital Media Marketing, Columbia Records.

“Through Gather.com, we can provide our authors the direct access and interaction they desire,” said Keith Fox, President of McGraw-Hill Professional. “It’s an important part of our publishing strategy, and creates a dialogue and relationship that is impossible with books.”

Traditional content publishing has been driven by a one-way approach to communication. Gather.com’s social media platform gives its partners the opportunity to engage its members in an interactive, multi-directional environment. With this launch, Gather.com gives its members unprecedented access to and engagement with experts and exclusive content. Through threads of conversation and live chats, Gather.com members and partners can immerse themselves in real-time discussions around shared interests.

“Our partners bring a critical mass of expert knowledge and engagement on multiple topics to Gather’s informed, engaged community. By adding their voices to the conversations already happening on Gather.com, we give our members a 360-degree perspective on topical subjects that affect their world,” says Tom Gerace, Gather.com Founder and Chief Executive Officer (tom.gather.com). “The diversity, timeliness, and relevance of this conversation is truly exceptional.”

For more information on Gather, go to www.gather.com.

About Gather.com

Gather.com (www.gather.com) is the leader in social media for adults. Gather.com members are rewarded for their participation with Gather Points™, or even cash for top contributors. Gather.com is led by an all-star team of industry veterans with extensive experience in building highly successful, Internet-based companies and creating relevant content. The Gather.com site was named the winner of the Media/Portal category in the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX), 2005 annual awards – the largest awards competition in the country that recognizes achievements in the development and implementation of interactive technologies. Gather.com is a privately held, privately funded company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.gather.com or call (617) 720-4000, x1032.

Gather, Gather.com, and Gather Points are trademarks of Gather Inc.

About Harvard Medical School

Founded in 1782, Harvard Medical School is recognized worldwide for its excellence in medical education, research, and patient care. The school has over 9,000 faculty and 18 affiliated hospitals and research institutions. The faculty’s commitment to advancing biomedical science and clinical care builds on the medical school’s rich history of medical and research firsts. Harvard Medical School also has a 30-year-long commitment to providing high quality health information for the general public as part of its educational mission. Through its Harvard Health Publications Division, the School not only has five consumer health newsletters, but also books for consumers with McGraw-Hill and Simon & Schuster; a weekly newspaper column, syndicated by United Features Syndicate; and regular bylined articles by Harvard Medical School faculty in Newsweek magazine.

About McGraw-Hill Professional

McGraw-Hill Professional is a leading global provider of print and electronic content and services for consumers and the business, scientific, technical, and medical communities. Its offerings include consumer, business, and technical reference books and online solutions on medical and health, engineering, and scientific topics. Headquartered in New York, the company has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Camden, Maine. McGraw-Hill Professional’s many imprints and brands include: Schaum’s, International Marine, and Osborne. For more information, visit http://www.mhprofessional.com.

McGraw-Hill Professional is a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies and a leading global provider of instructional, assessment, and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 40 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.

About Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly is the international news weekly that reaches publishers, booksellers, agents, and librarians worldwide. It is published by Reed Business Information, the largest business-to-business publisher in the U.S. and a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK and ENL) – a world-leading publisher and information provider operating in the science and medical, legal, education, and business-to-business industry sectors.

About Columbia Records

One of the oldest and most respected record labels in the world, Columbia Records traces its beginnings to the late 1880s and the pioneering breakthroughs of the Columbia Graphophone Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. One of the first companies to recognize the potential of recorded music, Columbia played a significant role in the technological evolution of sound recordings in the 20th century.

Through the years, the Columbia Records roster has boasted such legendary and contemporary superstars as Bob Dylan, Marc Anthony, Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Beyoncé, Bow Wow, Cypress Hill, Miles Davis, Destiny's Child, Duke Ellington, Fugees, Billie Holiday, Jagged Edge, Billy Joel, Robert Johnson, Ricky Martin, John Mayer, Nas, Bessie Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, System Of A Down, Train, and many more.

Columbia Records is a wholly owned subsidiary of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.