Credibility of information in online communities

Social media and Web 2.0 empower individuals to generate content online. It is important to better understand the potential added value of social media for e-health service provision. Social support and credibility of health related information generated via social media is a big challenge for online health communities. In this qualitative research, content of discussions from an online health community is analysed. Two themes are examined: online social support and credibility of online forums. Findings show accuracy and credibility of online communities – user profiles, ratings of posts and improved monitoring of content by advisors improve perceived credibility and trust in online forums and communities. Accuracy and perceived credibility of online health communities is pivotal in facilitating social relationships. While consumers are concerned about the credibility of online information, they benefit from social support and are increasingly turning to social media as a source of information and support. Organizations can benefit from better understanding consumer's use of social media, their concerns about information credibility and need for social support.

[1]  M. Hajli,et al.  Developing Tourism Education Through Social Media , 2014 .

[2]  M. Hajli,et al.  A study of the impact of social media on consumers , 2014 .

[3]  Mahmood Hajli,et al.  Developing online health communities through digital media , 2014, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[4]  Brendan R. Watson,et al.  Analyzing Media Messages , 2023 .

[5]  E. Kruger,et al.  A critical discussion of the benefits of e-health in population-level dental research. , 2013, Australian journal of primary health.

[6]  K. Osborne,et al.  Evaluation of a website that promotes social connectedness: lessons for equitable e-health promotion. , 2013, Australian journal of primary health.

[7]  Oliver Frank,et al.  The rhetoric and reality of e-health: a critical assessment of the benefits of e-health in primary health care. , 2013, Australian journal of primary health.

[8]  P. Powell,et al.  Do CEO bloggers build community , 2013 .

[9]  Mahmood Hajli,et al.  A research framework for social commerce adoption , 2013, Inf. Manag. Comput. Secur..

[10]  M. Featherman,et al.  From e-learning to social learning – a health care study , 2013 .

[11]  John Scott,et al.  E-health: potential benefits and challenges in providing and accessing sexual health services , 2013, BMC Public Health.

[12]  C. Flavián,et al.  New members' integration: key factor of success in online travel communities. , 2013 .

[13]  Wu He,et al.  International Journal of Information Management Social Media Competitive Analysis and Text Mining: a Case Study in the Pizza Industry , 2022 .

[14]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Reconceptualizing rhetorical practices in organizations: The impact of social media on internal communications , 2013, Inf. Manag..

[15]  Timothy Jung,et al.  Online social networking: Relationship marketing in UK hotels , 2013 .

[16]  Eveline Hage,et al.  Implementation factors and their effect on e-Health service adoption in rural communities: a systematic literature review , 2013, BMC Health Services Research.

[17]  Mohammad Nabil Almunawar,et al.  Customer Empowerment in Healthcare Organisations Through CRM 2.0: Survey Results from Brunei Tracking a Future Path in E-Health Research , 2012, ArXiv.

[18]  H. Andreassen.  ICT and patient roles; contradictions in e-health policy , 2012 .

[19]  Jin Baek Kim,et al.  An empirical study on consumer first purchase intention in online shopping: integrating initial trust and TAM , 2012, Electronic Commerce Research.

[20]  Sanghoon Park,et al.  Content Analysis of Online Discussion Forums , 2012 .

[21]  A. Wallis.  Survey explores nurses' of e-health tools. , 2012, Nursing management.

[22]  M. Massagli,et al.  Perceived benefits of sharing health data between people with epilepsy on an online platform , 2012, Epilepsy & Behavior.

[23]  Aviv Shachak,et al.  The use of tags and tag clouds to discern credible content in online health message forums , 2012, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[24]  Paul W. Ballantine,et al.  Help me, I'm fat! Social support in online weight loss networks , 2011 .

[25]  William B Lober,et al.  Consumer empowerment in health care amid the internet and social media. , 2011, Seminars in oncology nursing.

[26]  Wayne Usher,et al.  Developing Policies for E-Health: Use of Online Health Information by Australian Health Professionals and Their Patients , 2011, Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia.

[27]  Fan-Yun Pai,et al.  Applying the Technology Acceptance Model to the introduction of healthcare information systems , 2011 .

[28]  Haider Ali,et al.  Exchanging value within individuals’ networks: Social support implications for health marketers , 2011 .

[29]  Laurence Alpay,et al.  An empowerment-based approach to developing innovative e-health tools for self-management , 2010, Health Informatics J..

[30]  Julian M. Sims.  Communities of practice, telemedicine and collaborative technologies in palliative care: a work in progress , 2011 .

[31]  Emily H. Chan,et al.  Participatory Epidemiology: Use of Mobile Phones for Community-Based Health Reporting , 2010, PLoS medicine.

[32]  A. Rangaswamy,et al.  The Impact of New Media on Customer Relationships , 2010 .

[33]  Samantha A. Adams,et al.  Revisiting the online health information reliability debate in the wake of "web 2.0": An inter-disciplinary literature and website review , 2010, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[34]  Niki Panteli,et al.  Developing virtual medical communities , 2010 .

[35]  Ben Anderson,et al.  Social media and health: implications for primary health care providers , 2010 .

[36]  G. Johnson,et al.  E-Message Boards for Those Who Self-Injure: Implications for E-Health , 2010, International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

[37]  Hege Andreassen,et al.  Use of the internet for health purposes: trends in Norway 2000-2010. , 2009, Scandinavian journal of caring sciences.

[38]  Sonja Grabner-Kräuter,et al.  Web 2.0 Social Networks: The Role of Trust , 2009 .

[39]  M. Osborn,et al.  Are specialist physicians missing out on the e‐Health boat? , 2009, Internal medicine journal.

[40]  Elisa Mattarelli,et al.  Use of collaborative technologies and knowledge sharing in co-located and distributed teams: Towards the 24-h knowledge factory , 2009, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[41]  Kent D. Miller,et al.  Strategies for online communities , 2009 .

[42]  Stephen A. Rains,et al.  Health information-seeking and perceptions of website credibility: Examining Web-use orientation, message characteristics, and structural features of websites , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[43]  F. Sicurello.  Towards E-cooperation and E-inclusion Between Countries by Health Networks and Telemedicine - , 2009 .

[44]  Marius Podean,et al.  Collaboration and Virtualization in Large Information Systems Projects , 2009 .

[45]  B. Wakefield,et al.  Care Coordination/Home Telehealth: the systematic implementation of health informatics, home telehealth, and disease management to support the care of veteran patients with chronic conditions. , 2008, Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association.

[46]  Helvi Kyngäs,et al.  The qualitative content analysis process. , 2008, Journal of advanced nursing.

[47]  France Bélanger,et al.  Collaborative technologies in knowledge telework: an exploratory study , 2008, Inf. Syst. J..

[48]  Audie A Atienza,et al.  A review of eHealth interventions for physical activity and dietary behavior change. , 2007, American journal of preventive medicine.

[49]  Gunilla C. Nilsson,et al.  Health care consumers' experiences of information communication technology - A summary of literature , 2007, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[50]  Noriko Hara,et al.  Knowledge-sharing in an online community of health-care professionals , 2007, Inf. Technol. People.

[51]  Papassapa Rauyruen,et al.  Relationship quality as a predictor of B2B customer loyalty , 2007 .

[52]  E. Bernstam,et al.  Accuracy and self correction of information received from an internet breast cancer list: content analysis , 2006, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[53]  Ronald E. Rice,et al.  Influences, usage, and outcomes of Internet health information searching: Multivariate results from the Pew surveys , 2006, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[54]  Robert Scoble,et al.  Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers , 2006 .

[55]  Tammy Schellens,et al.  Content analysis schemes to analyze transcripts of online asynchronous discussion groups: A review , 2006, Comput. Educ..

[56]  Hsiu-Fang Hsieh,et al.  Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis , 2005, Qualitative health research.

[57]  Jennifer Preece,et al.  A multilevel analysis of sociability, usability, and community dynamics in an online health community , 2005, TCHI.

[58]  J. Lasker,et al.  The Role of an Online Community for People With a Rare Disease: Content Analysis of Messages Posted on a Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Mailinglist , 2005, Journal of medical Internet research.

[59]  Donnavieve N. Smith,et al.  Online Peer and Editorial Recommendations, Trust, and Choice in Virtual Markets , 2005 .

[60]  Shirley Ann Becker,et al.  A study of web usability for older adults seeking online health resources , 2004, TCHI.

[61]  Rose M. Marra,et al.  Content analysis of online discussion forums: A comparative analysis of protocols , 2004 .

[62]  Paul Resnick,et al.  Slash(dot) and burn: distributed moderation in a large online conversation space , 2004, CHI.

[63]  B. Lundman,et al.  Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. , 2004, Nurse education today.

[64]  Sonja Grabner-Kraeuter.  The Role of Consumers' Trust in Online-Shopping , 2002 .

[65]  Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva,et al.  Toward a Community-Oriented Design of Internet Platforms , 2002, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[66]  A R Oddo,et al.  Healthcare Ethics: A Patient-Centered Decision Model , 2001, Journal of business ethics : JBE.

[67]  R. Kolbe,et al.  Content-Analysis Research: An Examination of Applications with Directives for Improving Research Reliability and Objectivity , 1991 .

[68]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .