Vicarious Interactions in Online Support Communities: The Roles of Visual Anonymity and Social Identification
Open accessAbstract
Online information seekers often do not actively post or engage in interactions with others, inviting research on how passive users of online communities benefit from the information they see. Based on the social identity model of deindividuation effects model (SIDE) and social identity theory, we proposed and tested the idea that observers of a supportive interaction online could relate to the observed support seeker based on their shared gender and, in turn, become vicariously influenced by the support provider’s message to the support seeker. An experiment using a sample of young adults (N = 326) in the United States provided support to the proposition. Furthermore, the outcomes of the vicarious interaction were qualified by the genders of the observed interactants and enhanced by the lack of profile photos. The findings advance the understandings of vicarious interaction in online context and guide the design of online communities to promote mental well-being. Lay Summary Ample evidence shows that people benefit tremendously from participating in online health support communities, but less is understood about how people who do not actively participate in interactions benefit from these communities. We conducted an online experiment using a sample of young adults in the United States. The results showed that females, compared with males, are more likely to be persuaded to seek professional counseling for mental health issues from observing a supportive conversation online. The persuasive effect of reading supportive interactions was enhanced when female participants shared the same gender with the observed support seeker and when the observed interactants had no profile photos.
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Observing supportive interactions online can be helpful, even without being actively involved.
“observing supportive interactions online can be helpful, even without being actively involved (Dai & Shi, 2022).”
From Are active and passive social media use related to mental health, wellbeing, and social support outcomes? A meta-analysis of 141 studies (2023) · cites this paper as Dai & Shi, 2022
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- Authors
- Dai, Y. (., & Shi, J.
- Affiliations
- Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Venue
- Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2022-03-23
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 3
- ISSN
- 1083-6101 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4213142182
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 6.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- CityU Scholars (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong (9618015)
- City University of Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Baptist University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Keywords
- online support groups, social identification, gender similarity, deindividuation, persuasiveness, mental health help-seeking, professional counseling, profile pictures, young adults
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