Naslov
Virtual Fitness Community: Online Behavior on a Croatian Fitness Forum

Autori
Feldvari, Kristina ; Dremel, Anita ; Stanarević Katavić, Snježana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Social Computing and Social Media. Design, Ethics, User Behavior, and Social Network Analysis

Urednik/ci
Meiselwitz, Gabriele

Izdavač
Springer

Godina
2020

Raspon stranica
459-474

ISBN
978-3-030-49569-5

Ključne riječi
Virtual Community, Fitness Literacy, Forum, Online Behavior, Information Needs, Croatia.

Sažetak
Digital communication has influenced our lives in a number of ways, and the fo-cus 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 fo-rum. 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 represent-ed 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, person-alized 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.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

POVEZANOST RADA