I imagined Social Networks would be useful for Doctors to form a community with their patients (which I don't really see any examples of yet) but I had not really thought about a Social Network for Doctors where they might discuss problems they're having with diagnosing patients till I read Social Networking Goes Professional, says Wall Street Journal over at BigGreenBlog today (where I also write to on occasion).   Liz Camps was referring to the Social Network for Doctors called Sermo.com:

"…The diagnosis didn't take place in a doctor's lounge. It happened on Sermo.com, a social-networking site for licensed physicians, which Dr. Tomblyn and 25,000 doctors like him visit regularly to consult with colleagues specializing in areas from dermatology to psychiatry."

Now, I see this going down to the particular doctor/patient level eventually, and the tools exist to build white label social networks very easily now (ie: Ning.com could very easily be used to build a white label social network for a particular doctor or practice - and I really think that kind of social network will become more popular over the next year or two).   Right now, the Social Networks are listed in a Wall Street Journal article are mostly professional (see below):

But it does not have to be.  I easily built a White Label Social Network for my WAA Social Media Committee on Ning and now they just added a Facebook style recent activity feed.  My committee has 39 members as of today and overall pretty happy with the way the social network has worked out …it's made it much easier for me to connect with my Social Media committee, of which I'm the Director.

Liz Camps brings up an interesting point:

"…The (WSJ) article infers that there are two links in this chain (my language not theirs), in order for B2B social networking to be successful. One is the end user. What really would compel a busy professional to engage in this online social behavior, that until now has been associated with teens and geeks? The second, equally important link in the chain, is the creators of these networking sites. What business models are available to justify their investment in developing B2B social networking sites?"

But the "third link" is actually, the social network platform creator:

"…There is a third link in the chain that the WSJ article does not mention – the application service providers who provide the technology to the site creators. Companies like KickApps (the leading B2B social networking technology platform) are depending on the other two links in this chain in order for themselves to be successful. "

I agree, but will go one step further.   I think the Social Network Platform sites, sites like KickApps.com, should start offering help to network creators to make it easier for them to build relevant Social Networks based around their business or personal needs.  

None of the Social Network Platforms are really doing this yet - but I think it's needed and at the end of the day, would increase Social Network usage by a factor of 10.  One of my clients is an Architectural Firm, and they could use to build a Social Network - but they're having a hard time seeing what need it would fulfill and how to actually set it up.

It's easy to say, just go ahead and build it, but the reality is many businesses like this, or a doctor and his or her patients who might benefit from such a social network - don't really see, yet, the benefit or way to a social network would be built for them - even as easy as it is now to build on yourself…it's still not so easy to translate the value to many who really would benefit.

I think for every social network that is built, 10 more could have been built already, but haven't because no one was really available to translate the social network platform tools for what's appropriate for that business.

I predict, in the next year we'll start seeing social network platform providers beginning to offer in person, phone and online help, on a consultative nature, on how to build social networks for any particular business or personal need.

And by the way, note I say "need" when I mention Social Networks - because I think a successful Social Network is based around fulfilling a need, or multiple needs … like..what would a Social Network help you better do or accomplish today?