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Earlier this week Doug Hirch (of Yahoo fame) and few others [launched a new social networking site named DailyStrength][1]. Normally I wouldn't consider that too remarkable given the rapid proliferation of such sites, but DailyStrength actually has a purpose, something most social networking sites lack.
Daily Strength is centered around health "wellness support," and aims to build a network for people who are, in the site's words "going through challenges." Some people might sneers at such semantics, but I expect it will be appreciated by those who don't like experiences like paralysis being referred to as a disease.
In addition to those directly affected, DailyStrength also has communities for caretakers, family and friends.
Daily Strength uses the term communities to describe groups that form around various health issues. But the site isn't limited to physical health alone, there are groups on parenting, mental health and addiction, relationships, sexuality and more.
Every user gets a "wellness journal" for sharing with the community, as well as a standard profile page. One of the great things about DailyStrength is that each member in a group lists what medical and psychological treatments they have undergone and whether or not those were effective.
Assuming the pharma companies don't start paying bloggers to write fake positive experiences, this could be a good way to get some advice if your doctor has recommended a treatment you know nothing about.
DailyStrength does a nice job of tracking numbers within communities. For each community there is front page bulletin that lists the top ten treatments for that ailment. Click on any of the links then take you to a list of members and how that treatment worked for them.
Each community also has news feeds that pull in headlines relative to the groups focus,
As with any online medical community, you'll have to decide what advice to follow and what is nonsense and it's certainly not an alternative to seeing a doctor. That said, DailyStrength does list a number of doctors as "community advisors" whom it claims are active in their relative areas of expertise.
With so many social networking sites that end up as little more than vanity mouthpieces, it's nice to see one that has a real purpose.
[1]: http://www.dailystrength.org/ "DailyStrength"
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