Unique from all other social networking sites, Dimmi.com is an outlet for those dealing with a medical condition or just looking for guidance on overall wellness. This site is the first of its kind has been developed by an unlikely source.

Family-owned, Consolidating Shoe Company’s advisory board developed this nonprofit social networking site, which brings together people who are affected by the same ailment or cause.

Dimmi.com is still in the beta stage, a nearly completed prototype of a product. The company is in the process of reaching out to college students and has already made connections with health-related associations such as ALSA.org, which is the project’s biggest contributor.

“For the network to do what it’s supposed to do, we need more users,” said Shelley Todd, assistant marketing director of Consolidated Shoe Company.

According to Marketing Director Amy Gallagher, the network wants to have 20 users regularly participating across 20 different categories, building up to more than 1,000 users.

“We want more people in the pool so more people can contribute and help support each other,” Gallagher said.

Consolidated Shoe Company launched the site in January 2011. The project was in development for three years and Dimmi.com now has 500 users and is still in its “infancy stage,” according to Todd.

“If you go and register right now, you’ll notice there are only a few people in your pool,” Gallagher said.

The idea of Dimmi.com came about following the death of Dick Carrington, who used to own the company. Carrington died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 1999, a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. His brothers John, Billy and Bruce Carrington are still heavily involved in the company and Dimmi.com.

“The network was born out of his family [and] coworkers’ passion for trying to promote wellness and advocacy for health-related causes,” Todd said. “[He] really inspired a lot of people to push on with the fight [against] ALS.”

Dimmi.com is not to be mistaken with sites such as WebMD, Gallagher said.

“It’s more about the emotional support versus the medical support,” she said.

Similar to other social networking sites such as Match.com and Facebook, users have to create a username and password to sign up for Dimmi. Before a user can get to that part, steps one through three first ask, “Who are you?” with three options: “Patient,” “Caregiver” or “Everybody Else.”

Step two is “choosing your conversation,” where you select the medical condition you are dealing with or condition you want to help with, followed by checking all the boxes that coincide with how involved you want to be.

Using this information, Dimmi.com then suggests people to connect with, akin to Facebook’s suggested-friends feature. The system helps create relationships among users with similar interests by introducing them to one another.

“Regardless of the disease, you’re able to connect with people based on what your needs are,” Gallagher said