Sharing information promoting unhealthy behavior through social media: Examination of the users and the content using the case of pro-anorexia in tumblr

Margaret McLaughlin, Mina Park, Yao Sun

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Social media provides a place where individuals obtain health information and share social support. Previous literature, however, has suggested that social media may promote harm when users share information advocating unhealthy behaviors. By focusing on online discourse around pro-anorexia content on Tumblr (the promotion of behaviors related to the eating disorder based on a lifestyle view that being extremely thin is beautiful), this study aims to look at how information about the pro-anorexia perspective is circulated among social media users and the way in which such users can be characterized. Specifically, we plan to analyze the content and examine the shared characteristics of the users who are exposed to similar social media content and have a desire to share it.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2015 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2015
EditorsQuoc-Nam Tran, Leonidas Deligiannidis, Hamid R. Arabnia
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages800-803
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781467397957
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2 2016
Externally publishedYes
EventInternational Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2015 - Las Vegas, United States
Duration: Dec 7 2015Dec 9 2015

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2015 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2015

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLas Vegas
Period12/7/1512/9/15

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computational Theory and Mathematics
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Signal Processing

Keywords

  • Information propagation
  • Pro-anorexia
  • Social media
  • Tumblr
  • Unhealthy behavior

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