Social Networking and the NHS

People: The Internet has always been about people - even back in the days of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the spread of TCP/IP network to the academic community, it was about enabling people to work together (and play games) over vast distances.; The NHS is also about people - NHS identity Guidelines state: "The NHS is about people. Not only about making people well, but keeping them healthy and helping them make informed choices about their health."; Social networking is a catch all term: in Internet terms, it means bringing people together through technology, allowing meetings that might not otherwise have happened.
Old-School: The idea is nothing new.; Things like discussion forums, instant messenging and newsgroups all have a strong social element. Regular contributors get to know each other and often form solid real-life relationships as a result.; Possible side-track - pre-web experiences at "Cheeseplant's house"
MySpace: If somebody who is not a regular web-user has heard of social networking, the name that comes to mind may well be MySpace.; On the surface it tends to be gaudy and garish. Underneath, it is even worse - mangled HTML that doesn't even dream of being standards compliant and frequent server glitches for those trying to maintain an account.; However, it is vastly popular, with millions of users - proof that sites don't have to be perfect to succeed in bringing people together.; Nb. eBay as another popular (and slightly less ugly) way that average web users interact with each other.
Web 2.0: There are lots of services that come under the Web 2.0 banner. Common characteristics are curved corners, gradient fills, varities of AJAX javascript approaches and the ability to bring people together, creating links and exploring each others collections of "Internet knowledge"; Examples: Last.fm, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Googlemail
NHS Webteam: The webteam site has been a boon over the past couple of years. Personally, I have had many opportunities to get answers to technical questions, share my thoughts with others and just lighten the day; The Campfire service has also been useful. In particular John Kitson and I have helped each other out several times with javascript debugging - specialist work but it put the two of us in the same virtual room
Benefits: It doesn't have to be just the various flavours of professional web-heads who benefit.; Possibilities include peer support (knowledge pool and encouragement for specialists), broadening perspectives, meetings that aren't limited by time and place and improved chances of serendipitous discoveries.
Discussion: What has been your personal experience of "social networking"?; What elements are already at use in your sites?; Ignoring the fact that getting these things working can be difficult and time-consuming, what "social networking" elements would you like to add to you websites based on the ideas you have talked about this afternoon?