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Social Media in Health Care

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Contemporary Consumer Health Informatics

Part of the book series: Healthcare Delivery in the Information Age ((Healthcare Delivery Inform. Age))

Abstract

The health-care industry has embraced social media technologies and utilized those technologies to facilitate and realize consumer health informatics. Health consumers (e.g., patients and caregivers) use social media platforms to actively participate in their health care through exchanging social support with each other and communicating with health professionals on those platforms. This chapter aims to shed light on various aspects of social media in health care. Applications and implications of social media for health consumers, providers, and organizations are discussed. A distinction is made between general-purpose online social networks (OSNs) and virtual health communities (VHCs). The notion of patient-centered e-health applications and the connection between this concept and social media in health care are explained. A typology of collaboration platforms that are currently utilized or can be provided by VHCs is presented. The opportunities and challenges offered by VHC platforms and websites are also discussed in the chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/, retrieved November 2015.

  2. 2.

    http://connect.mayoclinic.org, retrieved November 2014.

  3. 3.

    http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/about-mccsm-smhn, retrieved November 2015.

  4. 4.

    https://www.facebook.com/Johns.Hopkins.Medicine, retrieved November 2014.

  5. 5.

    https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnsHopkinsMedicine, retrieved November 2014.

  6. 6.

    https://twitter.com/HopkinsMedicine, retrieved November 2014.

  7. 7.

    www.Medhelp.org, retrieved October 2013.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, College of Business, Idaho State University, 921 South 8th Avenue, Stop 8020, 83209-8020, Pocatello, ID, USA

    Nima Kordzadeh PhD

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  1. Nima Kordzadeh PhD
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Correspondence to Nima Kordzadeh PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Deakin University and Epworth HealthCare, Kew East, Victoria, Australia

    Nilmini Wickramasinghe

  2. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Indrit Troshani

  3. McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

    Joseph Tan

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Kordzadeh, N. (2016). Social Media in Health Care. In: Wickramasinghe, N., Troshani, I., Tan, J. (eds) Contemporary Consumer Health Informatics. Healthcare Delivery in the Information Age. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25973-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25973-4_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25971-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25973-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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