Illustrations by Baptiste Alchourroun

Crowd Diagnosis

Using the power of crowdsourcing platforms and social media, services are popping up that aggregate medical data from millions of users to combat basic medical challenges, as well as creating communities that support each other.

Socialblood is a Facebook-inspired platform that asks people to register by joining one of eight groups that represent different blood types. Friends are invited to join campaigns, post messages in emergencies or respond to blood donation requests. Facebook messages let users know of any appeals. “If my social networking site can notify me about my friend’s birthday, then why can’t
it also tell me that my friend had an accident and needs three units of blood?” asks Socialblood’s founder, Karthik Naralasetty. Socialblood, while still in its infancy, has already saved a three- year-old boy’s life by helping him find blood donors for his heart surgery in less than three hours.

CureTogether is a similar social-focused startup that gives people the tools to create their own research studies about their health and also connect with experts and others who suffer from similar conditions. Launched in 2008, CureTogether began simply as a way to help people who live with chronic pain fight depression and connect with a community. Starting with three conditions, the startup quickly expanded its scope and today has over 25,000 members, who have shared over four million data points on nearly 600 medical conditions.