September 16, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minute
Facebook and Twitter might get all the fanfare, but a nonprofit in Eagan, Minn., has quietly built a social network that logged 43 million visitors last year.
CaringBridge lets people set up personal sites they can use to update friends and family members during a health crisis. The network got its start in 1997 when a close friend of the founder, Sona Mehring, had a premature baby and asked Ms. Mehring to let people know what was happening.
The organization doesn’t sell advertising or user data, which allows it to provide “a much more protected and respected environment” in which to discuss sensitive health information and offer support than through other social networks, says Ms. Mehring.
“I love Facebook,” she says. “But I know that I am not their absolute customer. I am the product they’re selling.”
To go there: Go to caringbridge.org.
