Masked or Informed Citizens? Social Media and Online Health Consultations

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    The diffusion of social media is having profound impacts on the relationship between government and citizens in many areas of government service provision. In the area of healthcare the emergence of new venues of interaction between patients and between patients and doctors is challenging the government-established digital channels for healthcare service provision. In this paper we present a classification scheme with four types of online health forums and use this framework to explore data from the Danish case that illustrates trends of cost, use, and transformation of each of the types of online health forum. Although this paper is a research in progress, we put forward the hypothesis in
    the paper that the uptake of social media in the health sector is being used as a way for governments and corporate forces to increase control and reinforce legitimacy, rather than empowering citizens. In the conclusion, we suggest venues of future research on this emerging trend.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationPACIS 2012 Proceedings
    EditorsShan L. Pan, Tru H. Cao
    Number of pages8
    Place of PublicationAtlanta, GA
    PublisherAssociation for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)
    Publication date2012
    Chapter25
    Publication statusPublished - 2012
    EventThe 16th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems. PACIS 2012 - Hochiminh City, Viet Nam
    Duration: 11 Jul 201215 Jul 2012
    Conference number: 16
    http://www.pacis2012.org

    Conference

    ConferenceThe 16th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems. PACIS 2012
    Number16
    Country/TerritoryViet Nam
    CityHochiminh City
    Period11/07/201215/07/2012
    SponsorAssociation for Information Systems
    Internet address

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