Social Media and Diabetes: Can Facebook and Skype Improve Glucose Control in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes on Pump Therapy? One-Year Experience

Health care providers are faced with enormous numbers of patients and visits due to the increase in diabetes prevalence (1). As the world is changing, traditional health care services should be adapted for the new era of technology and Internet. Patients use Internet to seek, meet, and interact with a community of patients with similar problems; to share clinical information; and to provide and receive support (2,3). Facebook, with over 1.2 billion registered users worldwide, (4) has specific groups for disease information. The Facebook group “Diabetes Macedonia” was formed in 2008. It is a closed group that helps patients to share diabetes information and experience. The enormous growth of new users (1,430 patients, family members, and others by September 2014) led to the development of a structured platform by health …