When Amit Gupta was diagnosed with acute leukaemia, the 32-year old technology entrepreneur did what most people in that position do: turned to his friends and family to find a bone marrow donation.  But Mr Gupta, who founded the photo site Photojojo, has a few more friends to draw from than the average cancer patient: 17,700 on Twitter, 13,000 on Facebook (plus 422 subscribers) plus a strong web presence on Tumblr, Flickr and other social media platforms…"When it comes to real needs, we go back to the fact that we're a community and we can help each other," says Victor Montori, medical director of the Mayo Clinic's social media centre. Participation in social media has made our communities larger, he says.

BBC News, by Kate Dailey 12/5/11

Tags: Cancer, Social Media