Exploring alternative avenues

As the usage stats on my software are still very low, I'm looking at alternative research paths for my PhD. I'm still hoping to crack the nut on designing a successful social learning tool, but am hedging my bets.

So currently I'm researching other projects similar to mine - looking for Social Networks embedded within LMSes (or vice-versa). There are a range of interesting things out there that have popped up recently, for example:

• Lore - a very elegant looking LMS with a strong social networking component. The idea behind it seems to be that the social components are independent of the courses you're in (though they can be used within the courses), so you can build a social network across courses and Universities. It's the most elegant looking LMS I've ever seen, though they have been bought out and their blog seems to have gone dead, so I worry that they won't be around for long.
• Chamilo - less elegant, but similar to Lore in concept. Because it's downloadable, and you install it locally, you won't get the international cross-linkages that Lore provides, but the social features seem OK
• Earsketch - a very nice social network built around music projects at a University. Seems well-designed and engaging

I'm having trouble finding good Medical social networking learning tools - the one I have found seems to have failed. Ideally, I'd find a few examples in closely related fields. The aim is to find a collection of projects as similar as possible to mine, and examine the various approaches to design and development, and hopefully from that come up with some knowledge about what approaches are successful in this space, and possibly inform my own project and improve my design.