Providing informational support in an online discussion group and a Q&A site: The case of travel planning

Abstract

The study examines the ways in which informational support based on user-generated content is provided for the needs of leisure-related travel planning in online discussion group and Q&A site. Main attention is paid to the grounds by which the participants bolster the informational support. The findings draw on the analysis of 200 threads of a Finnish online discussion group and a Yahoo! Answers Q&A (question and answer) forum. Three main types of offering informational support were identified: providing factual information, providing advice, and providing personal opinion. The grounds used in the answers varied across the types of informational support. While providing factual information, the most popular ground was description of the attributes of an entity. In the context of providing advice, reference to external sources of information was employed most frequently as a ground. Finally, while providing personal opinion, the participants most often bolstered their views by articulating positive or negative evaluation of an entity. Overall, regarding the grounds, there were more similarities than differences between the discussion group and the Q&A site.

The Role of Social Commerce Constructs, Social Support, and Trust in Community on Social Commerce Activities

“…Informational support reveals an individual's perception. Informational support can be in the form of advice, recommendation, or simply one's experience of using any product or service (Savolainen, 2015). Therefore, when an individual are given advice or recommendation about a product, it is not necessarily she/he will automatically have social commerce intention.…”

“…Informational support is an individual's perception. It can be an advice, recommendation, or simply one's experience of using any product or service (Savolainen, 2015;Hajli, 2015). In addition to informational support, social support also entails emotional support.…”

The effect of activities based on Web 2.0 tols on students' reflective and critical thinking and problem solving skills in an online lesson

“…Ayrıca deney grubundaki öğrencilerin web 2.0 etkinlikleri ile düşünme ve öğrenme süreçlerine ilişkin farkındalık kazanmayı, süreç boyunca zayıf ve güçlü yönlerini belirlemek ve geliştirmek için planlama yapmayı ve kendi değerlendirmelerini yapabilmeyi (Akkoyunlu, Telli, Çetin ve Dağhan, 2016) daha iyi yapabildikleri için yansıtıcı düşünme becerileri açısından kontrol grubundaki öğrencilerden daha başarılı oldukları söylenebilir. Problem çözme bakımından ise deney grubundaki öğrenciler web 2.0 etkinliklerinin günlük hayatla ilişkili konularda problemleri çözmeye ilişkin verdikleri farklı bilgilerden ve karar verme süreçlerindeki katkılarından (Momeni, Cardie ve Diakopoulos, 2015;Savolainen, 2015) daha iyi yararlanabildikleri için kontrol grubundaki öğrencilerden daha başarılı olmuş olabilirler. Elde edilen sonuçlar Barrett (2010) 2019) çalışma bulgularıyla çelişmektedir.…”

Arkielämän tietokäytäntöjen tutkimusta kehittämässä

“…Empiirisissä tutkimuksissa on selvitetty, miten ihmiset käyttävät blogeja, online-keskusteluryhmiä ja Question & Answers (Q&A) -foorumeita. Tulokset osoittavat, että sosiaalisen median foorumit voivat tarjota hyödyllistä tiedollista ja emotionaalista tukea erilaisten arkipäivän projektien, kuten laihduttamisen (Savolainen, 2011) ja lomamatkan suunnittelun tarpeisiin (Savolainen, 2015b). Koska online-foorumien käyttö on diskursiivinen käytäntö, olen kiinnittänyt huomiota myös sosiaalisen median foorumeilla käytettävien retoristen strategioiden ja argumentointitapojen luonteeseen (Savolainen, 2014).…”