davidrothman.net

Online Social Networks for Nurses

(Started drafting this post on 10/12/2008)

We’re well past the point where there is an online social network for every community. We’re at the point where there are an absurd number of online social networks for every community.

A selection of online social networks for nurses:

Nurse Connect (previously mentioned here):

NurseConnect is an online nursing community and networking site for nurses and other healthcare professionals interested in advancing their education, careers and personal lives by sharing experiences and knowledge with others. NurseConnect is owned and operated by AMN Healthcare, Inc.

NurseLinkUp (previously mentioned here), is one of many sites run by Online LinkUp.

ANA Nursespace (previously mentioned here) doesn’t seem to be doing much at all.

SocialRN

I asked Arlton Lowry, the director of SocialRN, to make a case for what sets his site apart from the other online social networks for nurses.

Many of the other nursing social networking sites that are operating are built with one key objective in mind – profit. When sites are designed solely for the acquisition of profit, the design of the site and features suffer. We built socialRN for the nursing community and we have no other objective in mind.

The site offers many of the features that the other nursing social networks offer – like, photo sharing, blogs, status updates, file sharing, groups, ext. But what sets socialRN aside is how it integrates other Web 2.0 applications within the users profile. A user can display their flickr photos, what music they have last listed to – through last.fm, their position with Google Maps, and even their Twitter update. It allows users to bring all the other Web 2.0 services they are using together into one location.

Also, the design of a site is crucial for a pleasant user experience. There is no clutter within socialRN. We have developed the site so that it is easy for a user to navigate content and socialize with other users.

It’s worth noting that the site is built on Open Source software that will is upgradable and expandable in the future. It will allow us to add additional features and grow the site as more users are added.

The Open Source software socialRN uses is elgg, also used by Nurse’s Cafe