Original researchUse of communication technologies by people with type 1 diabetes in the social networking era. A chance for improvement

•Use of social networks for health purposes by patients with type 1 diabetes is low.•Willingness to share information with the health team is high; mainly via e-mail.•Willingness to participate in professional led social networks is substantial.•A higher involvement of health teams may be needed to implement health Web 2.0.•Being a single centre study, the results may not be applicable to other populations.

AimsTo evaluate the health-related use of Web 2.0 tools by patients with type 1 diabetes.MethodsCross-sectional survey assessing views and usage of the Internet, Apps and Web 2.0.ResultsNumber of participants: 289 (age 42.8 ± 13.5 years; diabetes duration 18.4 ± 12.2 years; 58.7% males; 39% with an upper secondary or higher education level). Web 2.0 usage for health purposes was low with 19.6% and 14% of Web 2.0 members (147; 50.9%) having health-related contacts and posting health comments. Health-related Apps were used by 35.4% of Smartphone owners (161; 55.7%). 75.3% patients would share information online with professionals, preferably through e-mail (78.7%) rather than Facebook (47.7%). 141 (66.5%) of those willing to share information would participate in a professional-moderated Facebook group.ConclusionsWeb 2.0 and Apps usage for health purposes is low. The difference between the use of Web 2.0 networks and the willingness to participate in professional-moderated Web 2.0 groups points to the need of a higher implication of health professionals in promoting Web 2.0 technologies if these are to be adopted in a clinical setting. Currently, e-mail is the tool to be considered when aiming to increase online communication with patients with type 1 diabetes.