PROFILE - DR NEIL BACON: Healthy business.(Doctors.net.uk )

Doctors.net.uk is home to a large community of UK doctors sharing their knowledge, which founder Dr Neil Bacon has built into a #6m business. Nic Howell finds out how

Amid all the excitement about social networks, it's often still unclear how and when these properties will make money. But Doctors.net.uk is one site that's showing how you can parlay popularity with your target community into a successful business.

Since starting out in 1998, Doctors.net.uk has evolved into a #6m business that's rapidly growing and quietly transforming medical training and pharmaceutical marketing. It's now branching out into other forms of media, from podcasts to wikis and photo-sharing.

Founder Dr Neil Bacon talks about the site with the enthusiasm of a proud father - he still remembers the moment when the first member joined in September 1998. Bacon set up the site after working as a kidney specialist in the US in the mid-1990s. When he came back to the UK, he was frustrated by the …