Social support on Weibo for people living with HIV/AIDS in China: a quantitative content analysis

AbstractThe Internet has recently become an important source of social support. People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in China created an online support group (the HIV/AIDS Weibo Group) on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, in January 2011. To investigate social support in the HIV/AIDS Weibo Group, the content of all 7215 messages posted in this Weibo group since its launch on 18 January 2011, was analyzed. The analysis demonstrates that the majority of messages fell into the category of social support. Moreover, social support provisions were far more frequent than social support requests. The results also show that informational support, compared with emotional and instrumental support, was the most frequently requested and provided type of support in this Weibo group.Keywords:: HIV/AIDSsocial supportChinaWeiboWeibo groups Additional informationNotes on contributorsJingyuan ShiJingyuan Shi (MA in communication, Michigan State University, 2012) is currently a PhD candidate in communication studies at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her interests include health communication, cultural psychology, and persuasion.Liang ChenLiang Chen (MSc by research in Sociology, University of Edinburgh, 2012) is currently a PhD candidate in communication studies at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His current research interests include computer-mediated communication, online social support, cyberbullying, and network analysis.