I want to figure out what the deal is with the /r/diabetes community on Reddit. Actually, I want to figure out Reddit, then figure out the diabetes community over there.

Over the past few years we have seen the diabetes community grow and flourish. Between all the blogs, the tweets, the shares, the views, the comments, and whatever else you want to include, there’s a lot of us out there. The fun part about all of this growth comes when we can combine our powers for a greater good and use our social voice to make a difference – see Strip Safely. Speaking of, have you written to your representative about Medical Device Data Systems yet?

My point is, there’s no shortage of diabetes in the social web.

As mentioned, we’ve got this blogging thing down.

Twitter? Check.

Facebook? Naturally.

Instagram? If you search the right hashtag, yup.

YouTube? We’re there too.

Tumblr? I’m working on understanding that community at the moment.

Pinterest? Between the memes, the infographics, and the snake oil, there’s still some discovery necessary over there.

The diabetes community is everywhere, but through all of my ventures into new and exciting advocacy avenues, I’ve never ventured into the wild world of Reddit. Until today.

I’m not sure what will come of it, but I’m determined to figure out how /r/diabetes fits into all of this…whatever it is we’re doing here. Maybe there’s a lot of overlap with the stuff you can find on Facebook or Twitter. Maybe it’s just a link repository. But maybe, and this is what I’m hoping, there are insightful conversations that I’m missing out on. Maybe there are people that could use a little extra encouragement that, for whatever reason, feel most comfortable there instead of on a blog.

I like the idea of building something. I like the idea of helping to build this community. I like the idea of knowing that wherever a newly diagnosed person with diabetes turns, they will find strength and solidarity in the family of strangers they discovered. I’ll report back later.