Social Neworking Medical Literature

Social marketing is building an online community of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Owen Van Natta, chief revenue officer at Facebook, said, “We believe that social network is not building a new niche or vertical but it will permeate everything on Web and unlock things we don’t do today.” Online networking is changing the way users process, connect to, and perceive the world and can be used as a tool for anyone looking to get information.

The internet is a vast network of information that offers users a feeling of connectivity to anyone in the world as well as multi-media content. Early social networking websites like classmates.com in 1995 focused on reconnecting ties with former school mates and SixDegrees.com in 1997 focused on indirect ties. In 1999 social networking sites had a friend-based focus, meeting people through chat rooms and discussion forums. In 2007 the growth of MySpace and Facebook has provided ways for connecting with friends, family and a variety of people covering a vast number of interests.

John S. Luo, MD, the assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehivioral Sciences at the University of California believes that social networking is growing and developing in such a way that social network in medical literature can change how patients and doctors relate and communicate with each other.

Luo said that ten years ago, people meeting online might have been perceived as strange, but today, there are numerous online sites dedicated to the process of finding a mate. In this manner, the social nature of the Internet has become the latest rage, with the increasing use of social-networking sites such as MySpace, available not only for personal use but for professional networking as well.

The many patients and family members of patients with serious or fatal diseases can connect together through the process of social networking not only to share great amount of resources and information but for online community support as well.

Robert Hsiung, MD, at the University of Chicago, hosts PsychoBabble, a message board for patients on a large number of topics, which began with psychopharmacology and has expanded to include other topics such as psychology, health, and substance use. Sites like Hsiung's provide patients with forums on a variety of topic information and offers the opportunity for users to create their own journals and profiles to be shared with similar patients and users who are interested in similar topic or are going through similar experiences. Through such sites members can post comments and create relationships that possibly can accrue to mental health treatment and wellness.

Social networking not only relates to the medical interests but to any interests from fly fishing to day care, to global warming. “Social networking provides a way to find resources and like-minded colleagues beyond one’s primary network in a more organized fashion,” says Luo, “instead of relying on a colleague to create the connection, social-networking software allows the member greater flexibility in finding contacts by either browsing his or her network or searching the entire site using key search terms.”

The strength of one’s social network depends on the number of connections in relation to direct knowledge and the validity and depth of the connection. Social networking growth is quickly becoming a worldwide phenomenon. By the end of last year, Asia accounted for 35% of the world's social networking users, with 28% of users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 25% in North America, and 12% in the Caribbean and Latin America, according to research firm Datamonitor Plc.

In general, social networking services, allow users to create a profile for themselves and share a collection of information with a variety of people who have similar concerns and interests. Social networking can be used for so many different reasons and is changing the way relationships are built, information is spread, and further expanding the possibilities the world wide web has changes the lives of each user who logs on.