It’s not the card one might be expecting in mid-February. This 365gay.com clip gets a first-person reaction to an anonymous e-card system from inSPOT that is used to notify sexual partners of potential exposure to a pull-down menu of STDs, including HIV.
We notified you about this new online tool last fall. Reactions have ranged from calling the service pioneering and useful to incredibly impersonal and cowardly. In Itay Hod’s 365gay report this week, the public’s descriptors ranged from “goofy” and “hysterical” to “Oh my God” and “intense.”
As some say, this may be a cowardly way to notify someone, but at least it eases a barrier that often can hamper notification.
That said, there is no research yet to show if what percentage of partners who are notified of exposure then seek testing themselves. However, at least public reception to this online communications tool is notable. Since their debut last fall, inSPOT e-cards have been translated into Spanish and French – and oddly enough, into Romanian.
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