Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Previous research on online health communities found positive health benefits for participants. This paper accessed engagement and social support among members of smoking cessation online communities, hypothesizing that perceived social support would be correlated positively with participation and smoking cessation self-efficacy, and also mediate the relationship. Posters and lurkers would also differ significantly in perceived social support and self-efficacy. Data gathered from smoking cessation online communities confirmed these hypotheses. Implications for future research are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using server logs from a weblogging system we document patterns in how people contribute, how and with whom they interact, and how long they stick around. For each participant we study the various ways they participate in the site and their position in local social networks created by social actions like invitation, comment, and association. We find builders who consistently modify their own blogs but seldom make comments or visibly interact, connectors who direct most of their energy to commenting or other visible communications, and lurkers who log in consistently yet seldom make new additions to their own blog or visibly interact with others. We describe these three types of users, document their prevalence in a Weblogging system, and study how their network position during their first month of participation shapes role they take and how long they stick around.