Somerville Residents Can Earn Virtual Money for Healthy Living

The city of Somerville recently announced a partnership with Wellcoin, a website and app that lets residents earn virtual money for doing healthy things.

At the moment, residents can earn "Wellcoins" and redeem them at three partner businesses in Somerville: Brooklyn Boulders Somerville, Broga and Whole Foods. However, the city and Wellcoin are hoping to add more Somerville partners to the list of participating businesses, according to the city's announcement.

In short, residents can sign up for a free Wellcoin account, where they can log their activities. They can do so online or they can use Wellcoin's iPhone or Android app.

They'll earn money for doing healthy activities. Yes, those activities include exercise and eating healthy foods, but they also include things like reading a book and helping out a neighbor, the announcement says. Wellcoin's website says participants can earn the virtual currency by conducting thousands of activities.

The city of Newton has also formed a similar partnership with Wellcoin, according to the website's blog.

If this sounds like a great way for Wellcoin to collect intimate data about your lifestyle, take a look at its privacy policy. It says, "Wellcoin will not sell Registration Information or Site Use Information to a third-party." That said, definitely comb through the legalese if you want to learn more about how it uses your information.

If you're interested, you can sign up at at wellcoin.com. Businesses interested in participating can email partners@wellcoin.com or visit http://www.wellcoin.com/Partner.