Members of the social web are increasingly banding together and using web 2.0 technologies to actively participate in their own healthcare (‘health 2.0’). This article gives an overview of how ‘crowdpower’ is impacting the field of healthcare, above and beyond merely offering emotional or informational support. It describes how the face of healthcare research is changing due to the technology-mediated collaboration between companies and ordinary patients, and how disease may be prevented with the help of the social web. Issues of health literacy and the role computer gamers are playing in the quest for new therapies are also discussed.