Informational support exchanges using different computer-mediated communication formats in a social media alcoholism community
E-patients seeking information online often seek specific advice related to coping with their health condition(s) among social networking sites. They may be looking for social connectivity with compassionate strangers who may have experienced similar situations to share opinions and experiences rather than for authoritative medical information. Previous studies document distinct technological features and different levels of social support interaction patterns. It is expected that the design of the social media functions will have an impact on the user behavior of social support exchange. In this part of a multipart study, we investigate the social support types, in particular information support types, across multiple computer-mediated communication formats (forum, journal, and notes) within an alcoholism community using descriptive content analysis on 3 months of data from a MedHelp online peer support community. We present the results of identified informational support types including advice, referral, fact, personal experiences, and opinions, either offered or requested. Fact type was exchanged most often among the messages; however, there were some different patterns between notes and journal posts. Notes were used for maintaining relationships rather than as a main source for seeking information. Notes were similar to comments made to journal posts, which may indicate the friendship between journal readers and the author. These findings suggest that users may have initially joined the MedHelp Alcoholism Community for information-seeking purposes but continue participation even after they have completed with information gathering because of the relationships they formed with community members through social media features.
information seeking medical informatics internet