As consumers look to connect with networks of friends, family and patients who share their health concerns, the demand for better social search tools continues to thrive.

In a recent webpronews.com article, “Consumers Turn to Social Media for Health Support,” Mike Sachoff explains that consumers of health information are heading to social media for emotional and rational reasons–and they are showing up in big numbers. According to a recent Epsilon study, “Forty percent of online consumers use social media for health information (reading or posting content).” One of the most common characteristics of the online health sector is that they are highly engaged. Using social search for health needs enables individuals to connect with others in a more intimate way than traditional web search.

The SSN Take: As social search continues to meet the needs of highly engaged online health communities, look for other industries to start drawing on the reassurance and familiarity that social search offers.

David Hardt, April 24, 2010

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