GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the drug maker that manufactures over-the-counter medications such as Theraflu, is teaming up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help consumers use their smartphones and tablets to better monitor their flu symptoms and share updates with family and friends on Facebook.

Glaxo and MIT’s Connection Science research arm have jointly developed Flumoji, an Android app that uses crowdsourcing applications to help consumers that download the free app monitor their flu conditions or symptoms and share the data securely with Glaxo and MIT researchers and other designated Flumoji app users.

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from an online community.

“We are trying to find a way to identify flu outbreaks quickly and reliably enough to support testing of potential flu treatments in clinical trials in the future,” says a Glaxo spokeswoman. “We are looking to the public for help via this app.”

The Flumoji app tracks a variety of real-time data such as flu symptoms from a user’s phone such asking how they feel and their current mood in order to detect fluctuations in a user’s activity levels, social levels and general routine, Glaxo says.

“Any fluctuations are used to predict whether a user is experiencing flu-like outbreak,” the spokeswoman says. “Current flu tracking lags outbreaks because it relies on reporting from healthcare providers and health departments who see patients and test for the flu virus and then report that to the Centers for Disease Control.”

So far the data collected from the app is not being uploaded to a central web site such as CDC.gov where consumers can analyze and receive local real-time updates. But the Flumoji app does let users share their conditions with friends and families they designate on Facebook that also have downloaded the app.

“Users of the app can elect to share their status with Facebook friends, so potentially you could see if your friends are sick and decide if you want to avoid them while they may be contagious or just ill,” the spokeswoman says.

Glaxo also already has a similar app that consumers can use to track flu conditions. In October, The Weather Channel and Glaxo launched an app that consumers can download to track cold and flu activity.

Available for use on iPhones, iPads and Android devices the cold and flu tracker is available for download on Weather.com and Theraflu.com, and is a new feature being added to The Weather Channel app.

The app uses social media updates and maps to keep consumers updated on when cold and flu activity is spiking in a particular area, says The Weather Channel. Previously, users may not have been aware of cold and flu activity in their state until a weekly flu report was issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The app lets users access localized real-time cold and flu activity information and read current and historical CDC cold and flu activity reports.

So far the number of downloads of the Flumoji app have been light—less than 1,000 based on numbers posted on Google Play.

The Flumoji app will expire at the end of flu season in April, Glaxo says.

The Flumoji app is Glaxo’s most recent foray into digital healthcare—an area the drug maker has targeted for more expansion, the spokeswoman says.

“Glaxo has been looking to digital technologies since 2014 to improve the efficiency of our research and to improve patient care, and mobile phones are a widely available and efficient way to monitor patient health,” the spokeswoman says. “Glaxo has been using them to monitor activity and vital signs in study patients, and collect patient feedback to improve decision making in the development of new medicines.”