Sanghee Oh

The success or failure of social media is highly dependent on the active participation of its users. In order to examine the influential factors that inspire dynamic and eager participation, this study investigates what motivates social media users to share their personal experiences, information, and social support with anonymous others. A variety of information‐sharing activities in social media, including creating postings, photos, and videos in 5 different types of social media: F acebook, T

Abstract In Web 2.0 environments, people commonly share their knowledge and personal experiences with others, but little is known about their background characteristics and motivations. Thus, the current study examines some of the characteristics and motivations common among answerers, who produce health‐related answers to questions asked by anonymous others in a social Q&A site, Yahoo! Answers. An online survey questionnaire was distributed to top and recent answerers to investigate their d

Abstract This study examines the criteria questioners use to select the best answers in a social Q&A site (Yahoo! Answers) within the theoretical framework of relevance research. A social Q&A site is a novel environment where people voluntarily ask and answer questions. In Yahoo! Answers, the questioner selects the answer that best satisfies his or her question and leaves comments on it. Under the assumption that the comments reflect the reasons why questioners select particular answers

This study investigates motivations for self‐archiving research items on academic social networking sites (ASNSs). A model of these motivations was developed based on two existing motivation models: motivation for self‐archiving in academia and motivations for information sharing in social media. The proposed model is composed of 18 factors drawn from personal, social, professional, and external contexts, including enjoyment, personal/professional gain, reputation, learning, self‐efficacy, altru

Abstract The purpose of the current study is to investigate perceptions regarding the quality of online health answers in social Q&A. The current study differs from previous studies by focusing on the topic of health, comparing the evaluations of users against experts. Three groups of participants – librarians, nurses, and users of Yahoo! Answers – were invited to assess the quality of health answers posted in Yahoo! Answers. Forty participants from each group reviewed a total of 400 health

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate what kinds of sources people prefer to use when they answer questions online, especially, in the context of social Q&A. Social Q&A is a Web‐based service, that allows people to ask questions and receive answers from their fellow users. In social Q&A, people often cite sources of information when they answer questions. It could be a name, a short description, or hyperlinks to the original sources. Yahoo! Answers was chosen for this

Purpose. This exploratory study aims to understand college students' use and perception of social media for health information by comparing college students in the USA and Korea. Method. This study surveyed 342 college students from two state-level universities in the USA and Korea (one from each country) using a convenience sample. Analysis. Independent sample t-tests were performed to observe the statistical difference between the two countries for three measures -the degree of usefulness, tru

ABSTRACT As an increasing important source of information and knowledge, social questioning and answering sites (social Q&A) have attracted significant attention from industry and academia, as they address the challenge of evaluating and predicting the quality of answers on such sites. However, few previous studies examined the answer quality by considering knowledge domains or topics as a potential factor. To fill this gap, a model consisting of 24 textual and non‐textual features of answer

The ubiquitous presence of the Web has changed the landscape of the general public's health information seeking. Approximately 113 million American adults currently search health information online (Fox, 2006) and over 25 million have participated in health-related online communities (Horrigan et al., 2001). Online communities are popular because they not only serve as an alternative information dissemination channel, but provide a social venue that satisfies many of the multidimensional needs o

Abstract This work‐in‐progress study investigates perceptions regarding the quality of online health answers that people share in social contexts. The current study differs from previous research by focusing on the topic of health and comparing the evaluations of users against experts. Three groups of evaluators—questioners, health reference librarians, and nurses—are invited to assess the quality of health answers posted in Yahoo! Answers. Forty evaluators from each group review a total of 400