Germany connects its MSers through a unique social network

German social network for MSers

MS Connect is a social network developed by the German National Multiple Sclerosis Society (DMSG) in 2016 and relaunched in 2018. This tool enables MS patients and their relatives to interact with other people affected with MS and to exchange ideas at a regional and national level. By now, MS Connect has gained over 2000 registered users and this growing tendency doesn’t seem to stop.

MS Connect offers a private and secure area for people with MS, since the German National Multiple Society not only verifies every single user, but every one of them can adjust their privacy settings allowing them to reveal step-by-step more information about themselves.

A three-pillar model serves as the basis of MS Connect:

• Security: MS Connect is a private, protected environment for MSers. Participation is only open for DMSG members or authenticated users.
• Privacy: users can define their level of confidentiality about their personal information.
• Connectivity: serving as a bridge between German people affected by MS, this initiative thrives to combat isolation and create a safe space. It enables patients to get in touch with others who suffer from the same disease.

Extra features to protect and inform patients

The communication takes place in private chats and public or private groups on a great variety of subjects. Furthermore, a calendar shows public and private events for people with MS in Germany. Regional MS associations in Germany have their own public groups where they publish information about their work.

A separate search function allows finding people with the same health condition, treatment, age, interests and residence that supports an easier communication in this private and sensitive area.

The development of MS communities online or in live is bringing together MSers and their entourage allowing them to share their experiences and their challenges, to build up relationships and address together their needs. If you would like to identify communities in your country, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will put you in touch with existing active communities or provide you guidance and contact to build up your own network.

This article is now available in seven (7) different languages:

We would like to hereby express our gratitude to Wouter Marijsse (Belgium), Patrik Puljic (Croatia), Tamara Dugalic (Serbia), Krystalenia Ampreou (Greece) and Mate Tagaj (Hungary) for the invaluable support with the translations of this article.

If you would like to help us translate this article into other languages, please contact mate.tagaj@emsp.org!