CHI 2011 panel remarks reflecting on building wellness interventions in Facebook (or other existing social network sites). I highlight challenges and opportunities for both the interventions and for the research.
2. 3 Interventions.Basic format: adapt existing intervention to take advantages of Facebook’s affordances. Pilot. Refine. Field trial. Analyze log data and conduct interviews. 1 Study of existing practices.
3. 3GT: positive psychology exercise around posting and sharing daily good things. More effective if people share publicly & receive feedback? Munson, SA; Lauterbach, D; Newman, MW; Resnick, P. (2010). "Happier Together: Integrating a Wellness Application Into a Social Network Site," Persuasive 2010.
4. Steps: Track and share daily step counts, achievement of daily step goals, and longer-term commitments through a Facebook app. Work with Paul Resnick and Caroline Richardson.
5. GoalPost: iPhone app to track physical activity, set goals, and monitor progress, with ability to share on Facebook. Work with Sunny Consolvo.
6. Interviews with people successfully using both online health communities and Facebook to meet their health needs. Newman, MW; Lauterbach D; Munson, SA; Resnick, P; Morris, ME. (2011). "It's not that I don't have problems, I'm just not putting them on Facebook": Challenges and Opportunities in Using Online Social Networks for Health, CSCW2011.
8. Selectively accessing One’s Network Collapsed contexts: happy to share with friends but not “friends.” People don’t know about or how to use features allowing selective communication (e.g., lists, GoalPost’ssupport group). Mistrust of Facebook: Participants did not trust data shared with Facebook to remain as private as when they shared it. Friends but not companies. Stories of companies using Facebook data for employment or insurance purposes. Limited privacy capabilities.e.g., all FB friends can see you are using an app.
9. Managing Impression while Meeting Health Needs Don’t want to appear boastful, boring, or weak. (at least not to everyone) For health, Facebook was more of a front stage while online health communities were the backstage.
10. Norms of Facebook Want to post appropriately, but not sure what is appropriate. Fear of sarcastic or negative replies on Facebook, while able to expect supportive replies on Online Health Communities. Silence can be demoralizing.
12. Limited Integration Points though this is also a challenge for any developer, with any API. Using a 3rd Party Service (Facebook) not Built for Research Deprecation of treatment groups. Features may change mid-study. Complying with Facebook TOS while getting and storing the data we need, with minimum duplication of work for users. A/B TrialsUsers expect same features as their friends, but the social graph is highly connected. See Sinan Aral’s work (“Creating Social Contagion…”) for an example of handling this.
19. 3GT Steps GoalPost FB vs. OHCs Thanks! Sean A. Munson @smunsonsamunson@umich.edu
Notas do Editor
Three apps, plus a study
Three apps, plus a study. Train self to focus on good thing. People super-reluctant to share – didn’t want to appear boring or boastful.
Steps – keep track of your own, compete or cooperate with friends, be held accountable.
Sharing. Celebrate, be held accountable, find activity partners. Support group. Link off of facebook.
What does Facebook do well? What doesn’t it do well?
What have we found: challenges
Boring, boastful: came up on GP and 3GT. Weak: OHCs. For many, there’s just too much work to manage an impression while communicating with your entire FB network about health.
Collapsed contexts makes the norm thing more difficult. What you are willing to say to a friend is not the same as what you might want to say to a coworker, but people haven’t really figured out lists or how to manage that.