Information Exchange in Online Health Communities Discussing COVID-19

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread through the United States, many people were left with questions regarding this novel disease. When few reliable sources were available, many turned to social media for information. Individuals reached out to online health communities to learn more about many aspects of the condition like symptoms, treatments, prognosis, and management of the disease. This study examines the informational exchange between users in an online health community during the first three months of the lockdown in the United States. Using social network analysis, we aim to characterize the informational exchange between users in a number of topics. Due to COVID-19 being a novel health condition, we observe only informational exchanges between users. Information seeking topics identified in the data were public health practice and psychological impacts, symptoms, health risk, transmission, management, prognosis, prevention, and protocol. We form a graph for each type of information seeking exchange. We use different metrics extracted from each information seeking graph to characterize the interaction between the users. Using these metrics, we can provide insight on how each type of information seeking differs for users of COVID-19 related online health communities as well as how social media networks can better serve their users in times of health uncertainty.