How Disease-Specific Online Health Communities Differ Between Mobile and Web Access
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Abstract
Alliance Health Networks has over one million registered members across 50 social networks and 11 mobile apps. They launched their mobile initiative in February 2011 to extend their social networking capabilities to mobile users. Their first app was for people with diabetes because it was Alliance Health’s first and most active web community. They quickly launched 10 more apps including Sleep and Heart.
When the apps were first launched, Alliance Health couldn’t know how web and mobile access would differ in terms of popularity, demographics, and usage patterns. As of February 2012, the most popular apps, in order of popularity, are Bipolar, Depression, Anxiety, Diabetes, Arthritis, and Cystic Fibrosis. Though fewer in number, users of the Teen Depression app are doing more activities (discussion contributions and "likes") than the other ten apps combined.
The differences between web and mobile access are most notable in Teen Depression and Diabetes. Access to Teen Depression is 78% mobile only, 12% web and mobile, and 10% web only. In marked contrast, Diabetes access is 97% web only with 2% mobile only and 1% web and mobile. The differences between web and mobile access to other online health communities are less extreme, although Arthritis is similar to Diabetes in being heavily web only, while Anxiety, Cystic Fibrosis, and Depression are heavily mobile only.
There is considerable variation between who accesses through the web or mobile, with some of the biggest differences in Arthritis by age group. There, on the web, 30% are 50-59, 20% 60-69, 18% 40-49, 14& 30-39, 10% 20-29, and 6% 70-79. Mobile access to Arthritis is fairly evenly divided between 20-29, 30-39, and 40-49 year olds, with the rest primarily in the older age groups. Noting that web provides more options to users, comparing user activity in the period January – February 2012, mobile was 75% discussions and 25% likes while web was 44% likes, 21% gifts, 14% discussion, and the remainder spent in other community activities.
Deployment of apps has had unexpected results, such as the heavy Teen Depression activity level. The minimal mobile access to Diabetes might be because the vast majority of members were using the web version long before the mobile version was available, while newer sites like Cystic Fibrosis have a much higher percentage of members using mobile, or may be attributed to disease or technology demographics. Future decisions about mobile app design and development will be based on in-depth analysis of data to learn more about how mobile usage differs from the web and to better understand the roles of context, immediacy, and affinity that may impact mobile use compared to web use. Even how people locate apps – to date 90% of Alliance Health’s apps are found directly through the iTunes store – is different than the web, where people primarily find communities using search engines or through awareness campaigns and therefore mobile and web require different strategies to attract users. Finally, consideration should be given to how the app will work on Android and tablet devices and how the different functionality and demographics inform app design.
When the apps were first launched, Alliance Health couldn’t know how web and mobile access would differ in terms of popularity, demographics, and usage patterns. As of February 2012, the most popular apps, in order of popularity, are Bipolar, Depression, Anxiety, Diabetes, Arthritis, and Cystic Fibrosis. Though fewer in number, users of the Teen Depression app are doing more activities (discussion contributions and "likes") than the other ten apps combined.
The differences between web and mobile access are most notable in Teen Depression and Diabetes. Access to Teen Depression is 78% mobile only, 12% web and mobile, and 10% web only. In marked contrast, Diabetes access is 97% web only with 2% mobile only and 1% web and mobile. The differences between web and mobile access to other online health communities are less extreme, although Arthritis is similar to Diabetes in being heavily web only, while Anxiety, Cystic Fibrosis, and Depression are heavily mobile only.
There is considerable variation between who accesses through the web or mobile, with some of the biggest differences in Arthritis by age group. There, on the web, 30% are 50-59, 20% 60-69, 18% 40-49, 14& 30-39, 10% 20-29, and 6% 70-79. Mobile access to Arthritis is fairly evenly divided between 20-29, 30-39, and 40-49 year olds, with the rest primarily in the older age groups. Noting that web provides more options to users, comparing user activity in the period January – February 2012, mobile was 75% discussions and 25% likes while web was 44% likes, 21% gifts, 14% discussion, and the remainder spent in other community activities.
Deployment of apps has had unexpected results, such as the heavy Teen Depression activity level. The minimal mobile access to Diabetes might be because the vast majority of members were using the web version long before the mobile version was available, while newer sites like Cystic Fibrosis have a much higher percentage of members using mobile, or may be attributed to disease or technology demographics. Future decisions about mobile app design and development will be based on in-depth analysis of data to learn more about how mobile usage differs from the web and to better understand the roles of context, immediacy, and affinity that may impact mobile use compared to web use. Even how people locate apps – to date 90% of Alliance Health’s apps are found directly through the iTunes store – is different than the web, where people primarily find communities using search engines or through awareness campaigns and therefore mobile and web require different strategies to attract users. Finally, consideration should be given to how the app will work on Android and tablet devices and how the different functionality and demographics inform app design.
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