ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Analyzing big data in social media: Text and network analyses of an eating disorder forum
Markus Moessner PhD,
Johannes Feldhege MSC,
Markus Wolf PhD,
Stephanie Bauer PhD,
Corresponding Author
Markus Moessner PhD
Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Correspondence Dr. Markus Moessner, Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Bergheimer Str. 54, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJohannes Feldhege MSC
Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Markus Moessner and Johannes Feldhege should be considered joint first author
Search for more papers by this authorMarkus Wolf PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Search for more papers by this authorStephanie Bauer PhD
Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorMarkus Moessner PhD,
Johannes Feldhege MSC,
Markus Wolf PhD,
Stephanie Bauer PhD,
Corresponding Author
Markus Moessner PhD
Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Correspondence Dr. Markus Moessner, Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Bergheimer Str. 54, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJohannes Feldhege MSC
Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Markus Moessner and Johannes Feldhege should be considered joint first author
Search for more papers by this authorMarkus Wolf PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Search for more papers by this authorStephanie Bauer PhD
Center for Psychotherapy Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Objective
Social media plays an important role in everyday life of young people. Numerous studies claim negative effects of social media and media in general on eating disorder risk factors. Despite the availability of big data, only few studies have exploited the possibilities so far in the field of eating disorders.
Method
Methods for data extraction, computerized content analysis, and network analysis will be introduced. Strategies and methods will be exemplified for an ad-hoc dataset of 4,247 posts and 34,118 comments by 3,029 users of the proed forum on Reddit.
Results
Text analysis with latent Dirichlet allocation identified nine topics related to social support and eating disorder specific content. Social network analysis describes the overall communication patterns, and could identify community structures and most influential users. A linear network autocorrelation model was applied to estimate associations in language among network neighbors. The supplement contains R code for data extraction and analyses.
Discussion
This paper provides an introduction to investigating social media data, and will hopefully stimulate big data social media research in eating disorders. When applied in real-time, the methods presented in this manuscript could contribute to improving the safety of ED-related online communication.
Supporting Information
Additional Supporting Information may be found online in the supporting information tab for this article.
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| eat22878-sup-0001-suppinfo01.docx1.8 MB | Supporting Information |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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