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 onlin...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hajli, M., Sims, J., Featherman, M., Love, Peter
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12162
_version_ 1848748001456029696
author Hajli, M.
Sims, J.
Featherman, M.
Love, Peter
author_facet Hajli, M.
Sims, J.
Featherman, M.
Love, Peter
author_sort Hajli, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description 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. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T06:58:06Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-12162
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T06:58:06Z
publishDate 2014
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-121622017-09-13T14:59:18Z Credibility of information in online communities Hajli, M. Sims, J. Featherman, M. Love, Peter 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. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12162 10.1080/0965254X.2014.920904 restricted
spellingShingle Hajli, M.
Sims, J.
Featherman, M.
Love, Peter
Credibility of information in online communities
title Credibility of information in online communities
title_full Credibility of information in online communities
title_fullStr Credibility of information in online communities
title_full_unstemmed Credibility of information in online communities
title_short Credibility of information in online communities
title_sort credibility of information in online communities
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12162