How to Make Social Networking On the Internet Work for You

Social networking is a natural extension of the connectivity provided by the Internet. Many of our patients, for example, have made new acquaintances, found a support group for their particular problems, and even met their spouse via the Internet.

“Social networking” on the Internet refers to a category of applications to help connect friends, business partners, or other individuals using a variety of tools. These tools range from Web logs, instant messaging chat clients, and online databases. In the business context, social networking allows individuals to expand upon existing relationships to make new business contacts.

This process is based on the experiment by Stanley Milgram, a Yale University psychologist who conducted the “small world experiment” to test the theory of “six degrees of separation” proposed by Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called“ Chains.” The theory states that anyone can be connected to any other person via a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries. Milgram tested the theory by randomly selecting people in the Midwest to send a letter to a stranger located in Massachusetts. The senders were given the target's name, occupation, and general location and were instructed to send the letter to someone they believed was most likely to be able to reach the target. The participants expected the chain to include at least a hundred intermediaries; however, it took an average of only six intermediaries.

Social networking Web sites work by assisting each member in creating a network of business associates. Each contact is encouraged to expand his or her own network by inviting other colleagues to join. There is some overlap of similar contacts in the network, but usually such overlap is minimal. The power of the system depends upon the extent of the network created by the members. Each member also creates a personal profile, which highlights information such as description of current job, areas of expertise, former employment, and educational background. The information is captured in a searchable database.

This business network can now be mined to find jobs, service professionals, and people of interest based on key words such as location, area of expertise, or company.

Once a desired contact is determined, a request for contact is then made and routed through the network. Each intermediary has the ability to approve or deny the contact request, which is done anonymously. Once the request has been approved and passed along by all of the intermediaries, the appropriate contact information is granted to the requesting member.

The advantage of the social networking system is that members have access to services and people whom they do not know personally. Potential employers can list jobs within the social networking system that often partner with job sites. One advantage for applicants is the ability to utilize their network contacts in applying for the position.

Another good use of social networking systems is finding referrals for patients who are moving to locations where they do not know any of the local providers. Many professionals use the AMA's DoctorFinder and make an educated guess on which professionals are the best match. Using the social networking system for this purpose could give patients more assurance that a referral is appropriate and less a shot in the dark.

I have been successful in contacting various technology manufacturers to donate items for the American Association for Technology in Psychiatry Fellowship. In addition, I have made several contacts to help test new PDA software products in exchange for licenses for my resident physicians. The majority of contacts whom I have made are in the context of technology, but with growing members in different fields, the possibilities are expanding.

One of the problems with social networking systems with regard to the health care industry is that medical professionals have not yet joined these sites in large enough numbers to create a rich network. Many business professionals, especially in the technology sector, have embraced this technology, but less than 1 percent of users are currently in medical practice.

One of the reasons for the low-utilization rate is that physicians do not understand how the service works and what benefits can be gained. I have had to explain to invitees to my network that this service is not“ spam” but a business tool.

In addition, there are numerous professional-based social network sites such as LinkedIn, Ryze, ReferNet, Ecademy, Spoke, and Knowmentum, and it may be too time consuming to create memberships and networks in all of them. Some sites such as Doostang and Orkut are by invitation only, which limits access; however, an Orkut invitation can be purchased on eBay.

I encourage readers to e-mail me at [email protected] to join my network. ▪