USING ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA TO COPE WITH SOCIALLY SHAPED HEALTH ISSUES

Karnesh MistryPhilip Zhuravlenko

Mustafa S Cidik

Outline

1) Theoretical and Methodological Background Challenge Strategy Theoretical solution Computerized solution model

2) Example Application: Tackling Obesity Application functionalities Algorithms, Social Networks and APIs

PART 1:

THEORETICAL & METHODOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

Challenge

Societal costs of smoking in UK is £13.7 billion per year (Nash & Featherstone, 2010)

Cost to the UK economy of overweight and obesity was estimated at £15.8 billion per year in 2007

(Public Health England, 2013)

Alcohol-related harm overall costs the NHS in England £3.5 billion a year

(National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, 2013)

People's personal networks are homogeneous with regard to many sociodemographic, behavioral, and intrapersonal characteristics (McPherson et al. 2001)

“Obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, depression as well as patterns of health screening, sleep and drug use have all been shown to spread along the social networks” (Coiera, 2013)

Evidence

Homophily: Similarity breeds connection

IMPLICATION

Building upon online social media: Online social networks possess many

important aspects of offline social networks (e.g. Coviello et al., 2014)

Online networking and community forming capabilities

Availability of computational data

Using Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998): A Social Learning Theory Capturing the full richness of the social

world Sense-making, problem formulation and

solving

Strategy

??Challenge Communities of

Practice (CoP)

Understanding the Problem andSense - making

Social Media

DB

APIs

Social and Qualitative Realm

Redefinition of the challenge & the solution

from CoP Perspective

Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Translation of the challenge & the solution in the

computational world Computerized SolutionAlgorithms

Computerized and Quantitative Realm

Theoretical Model

Using Communities of Practice: A Social Learning Theory (Wenger, 1998) for sense-making, application design and application administration:

Why Communities of Practice (CoP)?

“Learning transforms who we are and what we can do, it is an experience of identity. It is not just an accumulation of skills and information, but a process of becoming – to become a certain person or, conversely, to avoid becoming a certain person” (p. 215).

Focus on practice (i.e. community) and identity (i.e. individual)

Ultimate purpose is to create and sustain a community of practice which learns and continuously defines “well being” and “healthy living”

??Challenge Communities of

Practice (CoP)

Understanding the Problem andSense - making

Social Media

DB

APIs

Social and Qualitative Realm

Redefinition of the challenge & the solution

from CoP Perspective

Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Translation of the challenge & the solution in the

computational world Computerized SolutionAlgorithms

Computerized and Quantitative Realm

Theoretical Model

Using Social Network Analysis (Scott, 1991) for mapping, analysis and automation:

Why Social Network Analysis (SNA)?

Social Network Analysis (SNA) focuses on patterns of relationships between actors and examines the availability of resources and the exchange of resources between these actors (Haythornthwaite, 1996)

Ability of ego-network and whole-network analysis

Suitable for computation and for using with social media data

Engagement:Identification through our direct experience of the world, the ways we engage with others, and the ways these relations reflect who we are

Imagination:Identification through our images of the world, both personal and collective, that locate us in various contexts

Alignment: Coordinating our energy and activities in order to fit within broader structures and contribute to broader enterprises

Modes of Identification(Wenger, 2012)

PART 2:

EXAMPLE APPLICATION: TACKLING OBESITY

Application functionalitiesAlgorithms, Social Networks and APIs

Introduction

• Developing a Facebook application following the theoretical model

• Rate of becoming obese is estimated to increase by 0.5 percentage points for each obese social contact we have (Christakis & Fowler, 2007)

Examples of Application Functionalities

ENGAGEMENT IMAGINATION ALIGNMENT

Interactive app. wall Success stories Vision statement

Crowdsourcing platform Look back videos Mottos

Messaging, commenting, forums, chat rooms

Visual representation of the local groups on map

Promotional videos with celebrities

Friending / buddying Connection of broader geographical groups

Implications of the improvement

Crowdsourcing platform Shared long term plans Procedures, schedules

Creating events Justifications Trending stories

Creating interest groups Similar stories Recommendations

News / suggestions feeds Process transparency Anonymous initial memb.

Reward points & ranking Org. charts Performance boards

Different levels of memb. Easy access to key people Risk boards

Participation meter Complaints & suggestions Calorimeter app.

Local meet-ups Dashboard with poll Terms and conditions

??Challenge Communities of

Practice (CoP)

Understanding the Problem andSense - making

Social Media

DB

APIs

Social and Qualitative Realm

Redefinition of the challenge & the solution

from CoP Perspective

Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Translation of the challenge & the solution in the

computational world Computerized SolutionAlgorithms

Computerized and Quantitative Realm

Theoretical Model

FacebookDB

XYX

ZY

XYZ

SNA

?

?

?

Algorithms

SNA and Algorithms

• Using Facebook data through APIs• API = Application Programming Interface• Facebook APIs as data source SNA as the analysis

tool• Facebook APIs can be used to extract information which

can be used in Social Network Analysis• E.g. use of APIs to understand the connections of

individuals based on their social interactions/location/gender etc.

• E.g. use of APIs to find connections with groups or individuals based on issues they may have, in our case it is obesity

Facebook APIs

IT:

FB API X FB API Y FB API Z

FB DB

Algorithm X Algorithm Y Algorithm Z

Overall Output

Result X Result Y Result Z

META ALGORITHM

Facebook APIs and need for Algorithms

A B C

IT: Examples of Facebook APIs

• Graph API• Open Graph API• FQL API• Keyword Insight API• Chat API• Atlas API etc.

Graph API – Open Graph API – SNA

Graph & Network Theories

Graph – Open Graph API

IND

IND

IND

IND

Definition • Used to get data in/out of the Facebook’s social graph• Allow users to post new stories, upload pictures• Share information with each other

Relation• Allows for communication across all formats, provide in

depth view of someone promoting what they have been through, success or failure

IT: Basic SNA Concepts

• Networks• Tie Strength• Key Players• Cohesion

Peter

Peter’s ‘whole’ School Network Peter’s ‘Ego’ Network

Hi I am PeterI go to school

I am in my Year 10

A

FB

C

P

D

H

G

P

Peter’s School Peter’s Circle of Friends

B

J

KR

PeterPeter

Football Club FriendNeighbour 1

Neighbour 2

School Friend

Networks

Definition• Used to expose an analysis layer on top of Facebook

posts which enables us to query aggregate, anonymous insights about people mentioning a certain term

Relation • Allow us to monitor what people are mentioning in the

group or on their own Facebook page anonymously• Locate individuals based on gender, location and age• Return the number of times an individual has mentioned

a specific term

Example API: Keyword Insight

Definition• Used to allow instant messaging between users, send

and receive plain text and pictures e.g. ‘Peter’ at school connecting with his friends

Relation • Integrate Facebook chat into the app, allow for instant

messaging within the group • Allows for long lived conversations within the group or

between individuals

Example API: Chat

Frequency of Interaction

P B

MonTueWed

TueWedFri

Weight 1

Identification of Similarities

Weight 2

Weak vs Strong

Y

CD

B

P

P

E

No of Mutual Friendsbetween P and B

Weight 3

Peter Ben

Peter

Ben

Tie Strength

Tie strengths API Picture / icon

Frequency of interaction Keyword Insight

Facebook API

Identification of similarities Facebook FQL API

No of Mutual Friendsbetween P and B

Facebook FQL API

Example of Tie Strength link to APIs

Definition• Uses SQL style interface to query the data exposed by the

Graph API• Used to query data for e.g. retrieve information about users

based on the type of data the user has

Relation• Use the query to connect and identify individuals that are

part or a certain database i.e. retrieve individuals based on location, interests etc.

Identification of Similarities/No of Mutual Friendsbetween P and B• e.g. can find the number of people that like certain

things for instance food, drinks, music etc. • Once that has been established, we can identify

the relation between each individual

FQL API

?

What N. Of People can be reached ?

P B C

F G H L N M X Y Z

Buy 1 get 1 free offer on fries

Degree

Betweeness

Closeness

Eigenvector

Key Players

High

Medium

Low

Definition • Used to promote ads within an app• Ads can relate to the app itself

Relation• Allows us to promote ads relating to any type of issues,

promotions etc. Within the app, this will engage the group and at the same time be informative

• We will be able to promote new ways to become healthy/fit/motivation/exercise/rewards

• Can use the Key Players to communicate and promote to others in the group

Atlas API

P B

100 Connections 1000 Connections

P D C B

Types of Preferential Attachment

Popularity

Quality

Mixture of Both

Density

Average and longest distance

Cohesion – Connecting Together

P B C D E FClustering

Conclusion

• Online social media can help us to cope with socially shaped diseases

• Social theories should be incorporated in our solutions to assure that the solutions are viable and sustainable

• Urgent action is required to tackle socially shaped diseases to create healthy and sustainable societies and therefore a sustainable future

THANK YOU!