But patients, and particularly those managing chronic conditions, are driving the use of social networking in health. Some patients seek social networking in health on general platforms like Facebook and Twitter. More advanced patients seeking deeper relationships online find support, solutions and tools from health-focused social networks.
The pioneers of social networking and chronic disease were CureTogether and PatientsLikeMe. CureTogether was founded by Alexandra Carmichael and Daniel Reda in 2008 first focusing on three conditions. The network expanded to cover 637 diseases and partners with many research organizations and university teams to discover cures, together. Think of CureTogether as a community for patient-driven clinical trials for conditions eluding old-school research protocols.