Factors Engaging Users of Diabetes Social Media Channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes patient associations and diabetes-specific patient groups around the world are present on social media. Although active participation and engagement in these diabetes social media groups has been mostly linked to positive effects, very little is known about the content that is shared on these channels or the post features that engage their users the most. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to analyze (1) the content and features of posts shared over a 3-year period on 3 diabetes social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) of a diabetes association, and (2) users' engagement with these posts (likes, comments, and shares). METHODS: All social media posts published from the Norwegian Diabetes Association between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2019, were extracted. Two independent reviewers classified the posts into 7 categories based on their content. The interrater reliability was calculated using Cohen kappa. Regression analyses were carried out to analyze the effects of content topic, social media channel, and post features on users' engagement (likes, comments, and shares). RESULTS: A total of 1449 messages were posted. Posts of interviews and personal stories received 111% more likes, 106% more comments, and 112% more shares than miscellaneous posts (all P<.001). Messages posted about awareness days and other celebrations were 41% more likely to receive likes than miscellaneous posts (P<.001). Conversely, posts on research and innovation received 31% less likes (P<.001), 35% less comments (P=.02), and 25% less shares (P=.03) than miscellaneous posts. Health education posts received 38% less comments (P=.003) but were shared 39% more than miscellaneous posts (P=.007). With regard to social media channel, Facebook and Instagram posts were both 35 times more likely than Twitter posts to receive likes, and 60 times and almost 10 times more likely to receive comments, respectively (P<.001). Compared to text-only posts, those with videos had 3 times greater chance of receiving likes, almost 4 times greater chance of receiving comments, and 2.5 times greater chance of being shared (all P<.001). Including both videos and emoji in posts increased the chances of receiving likes by almost 7 times (P<.001). Adding an emoji to posts increased their chances of receiving likes and being shared by 71% and 144%, respectively (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes social media users seem to be least engaged in posts with content topics that a priori could be linked to greater empowerment: research and innovation on diabetes, and health education. Diabetes social media groups, public health authorities, and other stakeholders interested in sharing research and innovation content and promoting health education on social media should consider including videos and emoji in their posts, and publish on popular and visual-based social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, to increase user engagement. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s12913-018-3178-7.

Panel: Big Data & Social Media for Empowering Patients with Diabetes.

Millions of people living with diabetes are using mobile phones, Internet and social media to socialize with other patients, share experience or search information relevant for their self-management. This phenomena is leading towards a new paradigm of hyper-connected diabetes digital self-management. This is also leading towards an explosion on data, a large amount of data is collected on populations around the world. This panel will address the opportunities this data presents, discuss the latest research that uses it, and the limitations and other concerns.

Flexibility in interaction: sociotechnical design of an operating room scheduler.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to learn about factors that influence the design and implementation of situated computing solutions that support hospital work. This includes social and technical aspects of the actual systems that will be implemented, as well as the appropriate design methodology for developing these systems. METHODS: Staff at a surgical department at a University hospital were engaged in a participatory design (PD) process to help solve a problem that was presented by the staff: scheduling of patients and surgery rooms, and creating awareness of the status of ongoing surgeries. The PD process was conceptually aided by a model that describes Medical Informatics Systems as comprising of three components, a service component, a technical component and a social component. The process included the use of ethnographic field work and iterative redesign of both technical and social components of the system after it had been implemented into day-to-day work practice. RESULTS: The PD process resulted in the creation of a system that was iteratively created over a period of about 2 years, and which then handed over to the IT department of the hospital and used by the surgical department for a period of about 1 additional year. The first version of the prototype that was implemented contained usability flaws that made the system difficult to use in time critical situations. As a result of observations and a redesign of the technical component and social component of the system a new version was possible to implement that managed to overcome this problem. A key feature of this second version of the system was that some responsibility for data entry validation was shifted from the technical component of the system to the social component of the system. This was done by allowing users to input poor data initially, while requiring them to fix this data later on. This solution breaks from "traditional" usability design but proved to be quite successful in this case. A challenge with the solution, however, was that the IT department could not understand the concept of systems being described as comprising of both social components and technical components, and thus they had difficulty in understanding the overall design of the system during the handover process. CONCLUSIONS: Situated computing can present a number of design challenges that may not be easy for designers and hospital workers to understand before a system has been implemented. Situated computing development may thus need to be aided by PD that includes both ethnographic observations and iterative redesign of the system after it has been implemented. Traditional data validation mechanisms may create poor system performance in cases where users are rushed to input data into the computer due to pressures created by other more critical work activities. In this case it may be better to rely on social mechanisms for correcting errors later on, rather than error catching mechanisms that reject incorrect data. It can be challenging, however, to maintain such systems over time, as IT-departments may lack skills and interest in social components.

Disrupted rhythms and mobile ICT in a surgical department.

PURPOSE: This study presents a study of mobile information and communication technology (ICT) for healthcare professionals in a surgical ward. The purpose of the study was to create a participatory design process to investigate factors that affect the acceptance of mobile ICT in a surgical ward. METHODS: Observations, interviews, a participatory design process, and pilot testing of a prototype of a co-constructed application were used. RESULTS: Informal rhythms existed at the department that facilitated that people met and interacted several times throughout the day. These gatherings allowed for opportunistic encounters that were extensively used for dialogue, problem solving, coordination, message and logistics handling. A prototype based on handheld mobile computers was introduced. The tool supported information seeking functionality that previously required local mobility. By making the nurses more freely mobile, the tool disrupted these informal rhythms. This created dissatisfaction with the system, and lead to discussion and introduction of other arenas to solve coordination and other problems. CONCLUSIONS: Mobile ICT tools may break down informal communication and coordination structures. This may reduce the efficiency of the new tools, or contribute to resistance towards such systems. In some situations however such "disrupted rhythms" may be overcome by including additional sociotechnical mechanisms in the overall design to counteract this negative side-effect.