Introduction to online patient communities and their un-popularity in India

Abstract

Community development initiatives (or support from the community) are increasingly being recognized as one of the emerging pillars of the commercial ecosystem, which not only help in nurturing start-ups but also render support to well-established organizations. In this context, the 'community' does not refer to the general society at large but it refers to a group of people, having similar interests or working experience in interrelated domains, coming together, either due to their professional and behavioral inclinations, to exchange ideas, opinions, and reservations about a product/service/brand, etc.