The Liverpool Diabetes UK conference last week had a lot said about social media and improving healthcare. Giving power and a voice to end users is an emerging healthcare drive, pushed by a groundswell of engaged patients and doctors with an eye for the future.

Twitter is bringing people together.

Some notable stars are beginning to emerge, among them @diathlete (endurance runner), @parthaskar (physician) and @grumpypumper who tweet on #t1d, #doc or #ourD; plus other topics. They all either have type 1 or 2 diabetes, or are carers/clinicians of pwds (people with diabetes).

One to watch is @ninjabetic1. Training to be a health nurse and a type 1 herself, everyone connected to diabetes in the UK seems to know her Twitter name and she is fast becoming a hub of information and activity.

In the wake of @ninjabetic1's momentum, doctors themselves are recognising the future of social technology connecting them with their patients.

Professor Steven Greene gave the Arnold Bloom Lecture at the DUK Conference #dpc14 where he pushed the power of connecting to patients through tech: noting even the success of now dated SMS technology as a means of connecting with patients.

Retweets of @ninjabetic1 by doctors and also the major charities are growing weekly.

Our view is that Twitter is not the end solution, but merely a vehicle for pushing through to more effective ways of empowering patients and connecting them with each other and with their healthcare providers. Twitter is too broad. And social media is driving to more localised connection points.

But @ninjabetic1 is a driving force here. Perhaps she will continue to develop her @OurDiabetes as a platform for pwds to discover they are not on their own.