Completely New Health VC

This story, of patients sharing very personal information, amazes me. It is a completely different health virtual community than what we've talked about before. I'd even argue that it is a combination of the objective "scientific" medical web sites and a supportive one. Truly, we cannot anticipate the ways the internet is going to change the way we interact with each other. I had to get (too) extreme, but I think the internet is going to change the way established groups in society fundamentally interact.

Virtual Communities

Continuing its habit of publishing articles related to this week's topic, the NY Times Magazine had a special article on virtual communities, in this case, for friends and family of prisoners. One of the arugments I found interesting in this article is that niche communities thrive where general ones do not. (One must admit that this is a pretty niche group!) At the end of the article, you can also see an animal role playing community; it's not my cat group, but it sure sounds interesting!! :-)

What do you think of this, particularly the potential for the prisoner virtual community members to become exploited? Do you think this is one of the reasons that while facebook is so popular, it's not necessarily a community because it is so broadly appealing?