Social support research has demonstrated the physical and psychological benefits of social support for patients, but has done little to identify successful strategies for eliciting social support. However, contemporary digital channels offer new ways to examine this issue. In particular, this study explores vlogging as a coping strategy for cancer patients and a context in which to explore predictors of online social support. A content analysis of 69 YouTube vlogs and 869 associated comments was performed. A series of multilevel binomial logistic regression analyses revealed that narrative features that position the cancer patient as protagonist-including providing an explanation of the diagnosis experience, agentive problem solving, and positive reappraisal of the situation-were associated with receiving empathic support. In contrast, moralizing pleads for audience checkups decreased the likelihood of receiving empathic support. Findings contribute to an undertheorized body of research that also has translational value for patients, doctors, and designers of supportive online spaces who might eventually recommend narrative vlogging in clinical settings.
ObjectivesA growing body of health communication scholarship has explored the utility of social media platforms for eliciting social support, although much of this scholarship has focused on Facebook and Twitter. This study contributes to this body of research by identifying support in comments submitted to depression-related Imgur posts. Furthermore, the use of non-bona fide linguistic features (e.g. humor, sarcasm, and irony) is documented for comparison with supportive elements.MethodsA content analysis was performed of 1530 comments submitted in response to 20 popular Imgur posts about depression, including the emergence of four social support types outlined by the Multi-Dimensional Support Scale—reassuring, empathic, informational, and tangible support—as well as non-bona fide features.ResultsFindings suggest a supportive discourse, with nearly 60% of comments containing some supportive element. Reassuring and informational support emerged most prominently (26.3% and 26.2% of comments, respectively), followed by empathic (22.9%) and tangible (0.3%) support types. Non-bona fide features manifested in 28.8% of comments. Results indicate significant covariation between non-bona fide features and support, as these infrequently co-occurred.ConclusionsThis study’s findings suggest that depression-related messages frequently receive support from Imgur commenters, especially reassuring and informational support. Additionally, this study provides a conceptual framework for future analyses of online social support by integrating non-bona fide communication with established support types. The results of this study could have implications for health professionals and scholars interested in the use of social media platforms such as Imgur, which serves a predominantly young male demographic, for support provision.
People who are affected by cancer can benefit greatly from social support and digital social networks, though our understanding of online support is primarily founded in dominant platforms like Facebook. In addition, while previous scholarship indicates that social support is available online, little research has examined predictors of support provision. A content analysis was performed to examine the relationship between narrative features in Imgur posts and social support in comments. Imgur ( Imgur.com ) is a social media site and image-hosting platform, amassing over 250 million monthly visitors. Six post features were hypothesized to predict support, including explanations of the diagnosis experience, evidence of agentive problem solving, indications of positive reappraisal, pleads for the audience to get a checkup, references to mortality, and inclusion of humor. The results of this study indicate a relationship between narrative construction and social support, finding that the inclusion of narrative features in cancer-related posts influenced the provision of support in comments. Findings of this study could have implications for a multitude of stakeholders interested in social support provision, including healthcare professionals and researchers interested in the use of social media platforms for support, and organizations interested in designing supportive online platforms for individuals coping with cancer.
Recent scholarship has suggested the presence of website-delineated social identities within social media platforms, couched within the social identity model of deindividuation effects, and evidenced by distinct commenting patterns between networks. This study experimentally evaluated the possibility that Imgur users self-categorize and identify with an Imgur social identity, testing this hypothesis through the lens of in-group argumentation and attitudinal conformity. Specifically, this study presented persuasive messages to individuals reporting varying levels of Imgur identification and measured resulting attitudes, manipulating message context and the presence of message-reinforcing user comments. Findings support the proposition that users identify with the Imgur community, as high-identifiers exhibited greater message processing and normative attitude change when exposed to a persuasive message from an in-group source (i.e. another Imgur user) than low identifiers. These results further our understanding of contemporary social media use, contributing to a growing body of literature exploring online social identification and persuasive message processing.
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