A pioneer in social networking, the American Cancer Society realizes that Web 2.0 tools are just high-tech ways to continue what it's been doing for a hundred years — building and interacting with a community of constituents united against cancer.

By Abny Santicola

Originally called the American Society for the Control of Cancer, ACS was founded in 1913 by 15 well-known doctors and business leaders in New York City to raise public awareness of cancer, which then claimed 75,000 lives a year in the U.S. alone and was rarely mentioned in public, as it was steeped in a climate of fear and denial. The founders began writing articles for magazines and professional journals, published a monthly bulletin of cancer information, and recruited doctors throughout the country to help educate the public about cancer.