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2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Virtual Fitness Community: Online Behavior on a Croatian Fitness Forum

Authors : Kristina Feldvari, Anita Dremel, Snježana Stanarević Katavić

Published in: Social Computing and Social Media. Design, Ethics, User Behavior, and Social Network Analysis

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Digital communication has influenced our lives in a number of ways, and the focus in this paper is on how people obtain, share and interpret health and fitness related information in the context of a virtual community on a Croatian fitness forum. The Internet is proven to be the leading source of information in Croatia and health-related content is among the most represented coverage people seek online. The purpose in this paper is therefore to analyze information needs expressed by users of the biggest fitness forum in Croatia and to look into the topics represented on it. Also, the aim is to gain insight based on empirical results into the use of information communication technology to create and sustain a sense of belonging and mutual support in this virtual community. For this purpose, we conducted a qualitative subject and content analysis of posts on the most active place on the fitness.com.hr forum in 2019 (subcategory How to lose weight) and interviewed forum administrators and the most active forum members. Our results show that information needs of fitness forum users fall into six broader facets, all related to weight loss: nutrition, physical activity, psychological and health issues, personalized initial status, reporting results and other. Analysis also showed that a sense of belonging and emotional and peer support can in some ways be recognized in this fitness virtual community.

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Title: Virtual Fitness Community: Online Behavior on a Croatian Fitness Forum
Authors: Kristina Feldvari
Anita Dremel
Snježana Stanarević Katavić
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Social Computing and Social Media. Design, Ethics, User Behavior, and Social Network Analysis
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49569-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-49570-1

Copyright Year: 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49570-1_32

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