Abstract
Online social networks as behavior change support systems have been rapidly gaining in popularity. These networks have been studied by public health specialists from the point of view of traditional behavior change theories. However, scant research exists on the persuasive content of the messages exchanged between participants in such networks. In this paper, we use Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model to develop a framework for identifying persuasive attributes in online social networks. This framework was applied to QuitNet, an online social network for smoking cessation. Results indicated that the communication in QuitNet had persuasive qualities such as reduction, simulation, social learning, reminders, suggestions, and rewards. Further, these features were predominantly found in messages related to “QuitNet-specific customs”, “Quit progress”, and “Family and friends”. Use of this framework enables the development of quantitative relationships between persuasive attributes and behavior change outcomes experienced by network members.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
World Health Organization: WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2011: Warning about the dangers of tobacco. Geneva, Switzerland (2011)
Cobb, N.K., Graham, A.L., Byron, M.J., et al.: Online social networks and smoking cessation: a scientific research agenda. J. Med. Internet Res. 13(4) (2011)
Centola, D.: The spread of behavior in an online social network experiment. Science 329(5996), 1194–1197 (2010)
Chuang, K.Y., Yang, C.C.: A Study of Informational Support Exchanges in MedHelp Alcoholism Community. In: Yang, S.J., Greenberg, A.M., Endsley, M. (eds.) SBP 2012. LNCS, vol. 7227, pp. 9–17. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Reiter, E., Robertson, R., Osman, L.M.: Lessons from a failure: Generating tailored smoking cessation letters. Artificial Intelligence 144(1), 41–58 (2003)
Prochaska, J.O., Velicer, W.F.: The Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change. American Journal of Health Promotion 12(1), 38–48 (1997)
Bandura, A.: Social cognitive theory. Encyclopedia of Psychology 7, 329–332 (2000)
Oinas-Kukkonen, H., Harjumaa, M.: Persuasive systems design: Key issues, process model, and system features. Communications of the AIS 24, 28 (2009)
Cobb, N.K., Graham, A.L., Bock, B.C., et al.: Initial evaluation of a real-world Internet smoking cessation system. Nicotine Tob. Res. 7(2), 207–216 (2005)
Strauss, A., Corbin, J.: Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedure and Techniques. Sage, Newbury Park (1990)
Heaney, C.A., Israel, B.A.: Social networks and social support. Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research, and Practice 3, 185–209 (2002)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Myneni, S., Iyengar, S., Cobb, N.K., Cohen, T. (2013). Identifying Persuasive Qualities of Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Online Social Networks in Public Health. In: Berkovsky, S., Freyne, J. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7822. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37157-8_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37157-8_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37156-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37157-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)