The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine launched a social networking site before its April meeting in New York to allow attendees to hook up, discuss, and even blog the event. At least a dozen ultrasound subspecialties are linked through the site, as well as through Facebook and Twitter.

This year, even those who could not attend the meeting were able to participate in certain types of subspecialty fora online through aium2009.org, said Jennifer Hilderbrand, AIUM director of membership and marketing and creator of the social networking site.

Though developed specifically for this year's convention, the site got such an overwhelming response that the society planned to keep it live for at least two months after the convention, Hilderbrand said.