Building MedWeight smart community using social networking technology

Social networks have been established as a prominent model for communication and interaction between individuals, as well as among members of communities or organizations. However, as the need to support on-line vibrant communities constituting of different individuals, having different roles, privileges and capabilities, is constantly increasing, alternatives to the typical social network model should be explored. Smart communities could be effectively supported by social network technology, though specific issues should be explored to efficiently model community member behavior as they interact in the real- world. In the paper, we focus on MedWeight smart community, built to support volunteers trying to maintain weight loss. It enables them to be members of a community composed by both other volunteers and nutrition experts, taking into consideration the way support groups are formed in the real-world. To support Medweight smart community, a corresponding social network platform was built, extending the typical social network model to support roles, relations and complex content dissemination policies.