Analysis of online social networks to understand information sharing behaviors through social cognitive theory

Hong-Jun Yoon, Georgia Tourassi
2014 Proceedings of the 2014 Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Conference  
Analyzing the contents of online social networks is an effective process for monitoring and understanding peoples' behaviors. Since the nature of conversation and information propagation is similar to traditional conversation and learning, one of the popular socio-cognitive methods, social cognitive theory was applied to online social networks to. Two major news topics about colon cancer were chosen to monitor traffic of Twitter messages. The activity of "leaders" on the issue (i.e., news
more » ... ies or people will prior Twitter activity on topics related to colon cancer) was monitored. In addition, the activity of "followers", people who never discussed the topics before, but replied to the discussions was also monitored. Topics that produce tangible benefits such as positive outcomes from appropriate preventive actions received dramatically more attention and online social media traffic. Such characteristics can be explained with social cognitive theory and thus present opportunities for effective health campaigns. Keywords micro-blogging; social network services; twitter; social cognitive theory The most popular SNS chracteristic is the rapid response of conversation. For example, Kwak analyzed the temporal behavior of Twitter users discussing various news topics [3] . The study confirmed fast diffusion of information. The real-time nature of SNS makes it an effective means for spreading breaking news such as in natural disasters when real-time crisis mapping and communication are critical. Sakaki monitored and analyzed Twitter conversations to detect target events such as earthquakes [4] . Another popular application of
doi:10.1109/bsec.2014.6867744 pmid:25973446 pmcid:PMC4426385 fatcat:ou4m2iezybfzzg2ahxw2yjq2fa