Francophone online diabetes forums: A comparison between dedicated sites and multi-community portals Denise Silber @Health20Paris (Basil Strategies), Mathilde Holard (Basil Strategies), • We selected 13 sites to study: 4 dedicated sites and 9 portal sites. 2 are from Canada; 1 from Switzerland; 10 from France. • Dedicated forums are NFP in 4/4 cases and certified HON in 1/4 cases. • Portals are commercial in 8/9 cases and certified HON in 4/9 cases. • 9/13 forum sites have a current design style. o NFP are 2 of 5 to modernize. o Commercial editors are 7 of 8 to modernize. • It is not possible to calculate the number of diabetes pages or members on Google for most portal sites. • 8/9 portals have a Twitter account, about health in general. • 8/9 portals have a Facebook account, about health in general. • 2 of 4 dedicated sites have a Twitter account, specific to diabetes. • 3 of 4 dedicated sites have a Facebook account. Background It is estimated that there are 3 million French people with diabetes. 2 million are likely to use the Internet. The purpose of the study was to see what options are available to them in terms of diabetes forums and communities and to the extent possible see how many people are using these forums and communities. Methodology To find the forums, we typed into Google key words (diabetes, forum, patient communities). We attempted, to the best of our ability, to identify: the year that the diabetes forum was initiated, HON certification, the nature of the editor (commercial or not for profit), number of members, number of messages, number of pages on Google for dedicated sites, date of recent messages, presence on Facebook, presence on Twitter Results Conclusions • It is not easy to establish profile types for diabetes forums. • One possibility would be the economic profile. o There is a major economic difference between dedicated sites and portal sites. Dedicated forum sites tend to be not for profit, are necessarily smaller because of the narrower subject matter, and have fewer resources than portals run by commercial editors. However, it is difficult to demonstrate how this impacts the quality of the forum. o Commercial portals are likely to accept advertising and to communicate on Twitter and Facebook than smaller, dedicated sites. However, dedicated sites may also accept advertising to cover their costs, even if they are NFP. • Data on forum activity is easier to find on dedicated sites, but it is difficult to compare them to the diabetes communities on portals, where the data is often collective. • Presence on HONCode is an interesting criterion, because acceptance of the HONCode ensures that some basic information about the identity of the site is available, although such information is not complete. HONCode is more frequently present on portals than on smaller dedicated sites. • We recommend that all forum producers make available clear, activity data about the number of messages, number of members, frequency of new messages…which are of interest to a new users “shopping” for a forum. First Author contact information: [email protected] Pres. of Basil Strategies, founder Doctors 2.0 TM & You

Francophone Online Diabetes Forum

Download PDF Report

Upload
denise-silber
View
66
Download
1

Tags:

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Francophone Online Diabetes Forum

Francophone online diabetes forums: A comparisonbetween dedicated sites and multi-community portals

Denise Silber @Health20Paris (Basil Strategies),Mathilde Holard (Basil Strategies),

• We selected 13 sites to study: 4dedicated sites and 9 portal sites. 2 arefrom Canada; 1 from Switzerland; 10 from France.

• Dedicated forums are NFP in 4/4 casesand certified HON in 1/4 cases.

• Portals are commercial in 8/9 cases andcertified HON in 4/9 cases.

• 9/13 forum sites have a current design style. o NFP are 2 of 5 to modernize. o Commercial editors are 7 of 8 to modernize.

• It is not possible to calculate the number of diabetes pages ormembers on Google for most portal sites.

• 8/9 portals have a Twitter account, about health in general.

• 8/9 portals have a Facebook account, about health in general.

• 2 of 4 dedicated sites have a Twitter account, specific todiabetes.

• 3 of 4 dedicated sites have a Facebook account.

BackgroundIt is estimated that there are 3 million French people with diabetes. 2 million are likely to usethe Internet. The purpose of the study was to see what options are available to them interms of diabetes forums and communities and to the extent possible see how many peopleare using these forums and communities.

MethodologyTo find the forums, we typed into Google key words (diabetes, forum, patient communities).We attempted, to the best of our ability, to identify: the year that the diabetes forum wasinitiated, HON certification, the nature of the editor (commercial or not for profit), numberof members, number of messages, number of pages on Google for dedicated sites, date ofrecent messages, presence on Facebook, presence on Twitter

Results

Conclusions• It is not easy to establish profile types for diabetes forums.

• One possibility would be the economic profile. o There is a major economic difference between dedicated sites

and portal sites. Dedicated forum sites tend to be not for profit,are necessarily smaller because of the narrower subject matter,and have fewer resources than portals run by commercialeditors. However, it is difficult to demonstrate how this impactsthe quality of the forum.

o Commercial portals are likely to acceptadvertising and to communicate onTwitter and Facebook than smaller,dedicated sites. However, dedicatedsites may also accept advertising tocover their costs, even if they are NFP.

• Data on forum activity is easier to find on dedicated sites, but it isdifficult to compare them to the diabetes communities on portals,where the data is often collective.

• Presence on HONCode is an interesting criterion, becauseacceptance of the HONCode ensures that some basic informationabout the identity of the site is available, although suchinformation is not complete. HONCode is more frequently presenton portals than on smaller dedicated sites.

• We recommend that all forumproducers make available clear, activitydata about the number of messages,number of members, frequency of newmessages…which are of interest to anew users “shopping” for a forum.

First Author contact information:

[email protected]. of Basil Strategies, founder Doctors 2.0 TM & You