Now I know that Laura Landro reads (rather than just reccomends) this blog. Today in her The Informed Patient column in the WSJ she discusses the burgeoning patient to patient discussion movement, which is a big part of Health2.0. On the other hand she could just have been talking to Dmitriy who gets plenty of press in her column for his work at TMBN. Others getting mentions include DailyStrength, Healia, and OrganizedWisdom. There’s also quite a bit of discussion of Second Life, which I have been trying my hardest to avoid—given that I waste most of my life online as it is…
But her description of what’s happening behind Health2.0 is excellent:
The social-networking revolution is coming to health care, at the same time that new Internet technologies and software programs are making it easier than ever for consumers to find timely, personalized health information online. Patients who once connected mainly through email discussion groups and chat rooms are building more sophisticated virtual communities that enable them to share information about treatment and coping and build a personal network of friends. At the same time, traditional Web sites that once offered cumbersome pages of static data are developing blogs, podcasts, and customized search engines to deliver the most relevant and timely information on health topics.
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Yes, nice piece.
But where was the paragraph or even sentence about a person’s privacy? Privacy seems to be under-rated in general on social networking websites, but when it comes to health information and data, where’s the conversation and discussion?
I’d like to see more of that before hundreds of thousands of people start giving out their health data to anyone with access to Google.
Health 2.0 IS taking off! It’s hardly burst…it’s only beginning. Check out http://www.marksdailyapple.com and http://www.vitalvotes.com to see examples of fun (and just funny), interesting health collaboration. Question: is this a trend doctors are going to get involved with, so that everyone benefits? Or will it remain “under” the radar? How can we maximize the benefits for people?