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How Facebook Is Transforming Science and Public Health

FACEBOOK HAS ENCOMPASSED many things... From a subtler version of a dating site to a gaming platform and a messaging hub. We’ve seen Facebook and its billion-plus users play a part in influencing politics, the form advertising takes, and how retail happens. Now we're starting to see Facebook begin to impact science and public health, and it could be Facebook's biggest industry-changing opportunity yet.

The logic is a simple one: Everyone on Facebook... will have an illness at some point in their lives. And, as Facebook's social creatures are in the habit of doing, that mass of people will share their experience battling disease, ask questions of their friends, and field advice from…

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  CuredIt

Helping professional and individuals share their Knowledge and care to promote better health everywhere.

  HealthUnlocked

We're inspiring millions of people to connect with others with similar health backgrounds to share their experiences.

  Patient's Lounge

We are a site created by patients, caregivers, and loved ones sharing knowledge on personal medical experiences. We have information on patient-specific experiences—from personal tips on recovering from gall bladder surgery to a child's perspective on moving her parents into assisted living. Our goal is to be the best place on the web to exchange real-life experiences on medical conditions

  PatientsLikeMe

Our goal is to enable people to share information that can improve the lives of patients diagnosed with life-changing diseases. To make this happen, we've created a platform for collecting and sharing real world, outcome-based patient data (patientslikeme.com) and are establishing data-sharing partnerships with doctors, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, research organizations, and non-profits.

  Smart Patients

An online community where patients and their families learn from each other.

  Social Health Network

SocialHealthNetwork.com is a Health Union community. Health Union reaches millions of people through condition-specific online health communities and a Social Health Network of patient leaders across virtually all health conditions. SocialHealthNetwork.com is a Health Union community. Health Union reaches millions of people through condition-specific online health communities and a Social Health Network of patient leaders across virtually all health conditions.

 Cancer Support Community

Transforming the cancer experience through community and connection.

 CancerConnect

CancerConnect is a comprehensive online resource center and social network for cancer patients and their caregivers. Since 1996, it has been providing best in class, disease-specific patient information, covering relevant topics such as latest treatments, management of side effects, clinical trials, and support groups.

 Change.org

Change.org is the world's largest petition platform, empowering people everywhere to create the change they want to see. We live in an amazing time, when the opportunity to make a difference is greater than ever before. Gathering people behind a cause used to be difficult, requiring lots of time, money, and a complex infrastructure. But technology has made us more connected than ever.

 DailyStrength

DailyStrength.org is the largest, most comprehensive health network of people sharing their advice, tratment experiences, and support.

 Diabetes Daily

Diabetes Daily is the web's most active, grass-roots diabetes community. Thousands of friendly people congregate every day to ask questions and get answers - usually in minutes, share real-time support in Live Chat and meet friends who actually understand what you're going through.

 Positive Singles

This is a warm-hearted and exclusive community for singles and friends with STDs. Here you can get on with your life and meet new friends, partners or potential spouses, or learn about STD medical information.

 RedHotMamas

The Red Hot Mamas Menopause Support Community connects patients, families, friends and caregivers for support and inspiration. This community is sponsored by Red Hot Mamas, an Inspire trusted partner.

 SparkPeople

SparkPeople's healthy living tools and content will help you find the right path, but our Community will help keep you on that path. Get motivation and support while you have fun meeting people like you who are trying to get healthy.

 Tudiabetes.org

Tu Diabetes is an Online Community where the members help each other out, educate ourselves and share the steps we take every day to stay healthy while living with this very serious condition.

 Young Survival Coalition

The Young Survival Coalition's educational programs are designed to reach not only our core audience of young women affected by breast cancer but also members of the medical community, friends, family members, caregivers, the breast health community, healthy young women and the general public.

Articles of Interest

Millennials And Healthy Living: It's About Online Content, Not Doctors' Visits

Millennials are often called the “C” generation, “C” standing for “connected.” They have grown up with devices in their hands and have come to see that they can find everything they want or need online. And this includes health.

How social networks are changing health behaviour

Social processes underpin everything from our lifestyle choices and health decisions, to the way healthcare is conceived and delivered. Social media – information tools that both exploit and celebrate our social nature – are beginning to be used across healthcare from disease management to biomedical research. However, social media can have an even stronger role, enabling us to treat socially-shaped diseases such as obesity, depression, diabetes and heart disease.

Informing Consumer Health Information Technology Design: How Patients Use Social Networking Sites

As health care shifts to home- and community-based settings, patients are increasingly assuming responsibility for and engaging in self care and self management. Multiple forms of consumer health information technology (IT)–-electronic technologies used to support lay people with self care and self management–-are being developed. However, health IT is often developed without an understanding of how health management tasks are performed by the intended users. This results in technologies that are not aligned with users’ needs and preferences; increase physical and psychological burden; and decrease users’ ability to use the technology, all of which increase the potential for unintended consequences.

The Latest Crop of Instagram Influencers? Medical Students

In between posts about the anatomy lab and long hours, med students are making extra cash endorsing products. Is it ethical?

The rise of the nursefluencer

Health care influencers who have flooded the site within the past few years say they’re fighting back against that kind of social media misinformation. Many nurses and doctors on Instagram combine the cute, aspirational lifestyle aesthetic of regular fashion and beauty influencers with actual medical tips from a vetted professional. There are now so many medical professionals on Instagram that at least one hospital has created an entire position to govern it.