Lost in Migration

Designing sustainable online support: Examining the effects of design change in 49 online health support communities

“…In particular, the lack of facilities for keeping track of people in long conversations seemed particularly upsetting for some. These results are reminiscent to those of Nakikj and Mamykina (2018), who report similar member reactions to a design-change that was oriented to improve information-seeking behavior.…”

“…In OHCs, the kinds of support sought and obtained may play a role in attachment to a community. Wang et al (2012) found that exposure to emotional support is correlated with length of membership, corroborating Nakikj and Mamykina (2018) qualitative findings about members' prioritization of socio-emotional support. Vlahovic, Wang, Kraut, and Levine (2014) examined the match between support sought and obtained and found that a fit between the two was especially important for individuals seeking information.…”

“…However, there remains a paucity of empirical research to examine the impact of design on the sustainability of OHCs. In one recent study, Nakikj and Mamykina (2018) used qualitative methods to highlight how a design change that was intended to facilitate information seeking behaviors interfered with the provision of socio-emotional support within the community, and this may have downstream consequences for the community's sustainability. However, their analysis focused on the perceptions of community members and did not follow the impact of the design change through to any observed member behaviors.…”

“…Many types of support may be given in OHCs, but scholars often distinguish between informational and socioemotional support (Nakikj & Mamykina, 2018). The former involves the provision of knowledge or advice, and the latter includes direct emotional support and that which comes with the sense of belonging to a community (Bambina, 2007;Nakikj & Mamykina, 2018). Patterns of social support have *Corresponding author Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article.…”

“…One reason for this is that it is hard to disentangle the relative influence of design from that of the health condition discussed and other emergent social factors when comparing different communities. As pointed out by Nakikj and Mamykina (2018), natural experiments wherein a single community experiences different sociotechnical designs are rare.…”