Social Q&A sites such as Yahoo! Answers and Naver Knowledge-iN have become a viable method for information seeking and sharing on the Web. Considering their immense popularity and growing concerns about their validity as information sources, questions about the credibility of the information provided on social Q&As are timely. Therefore, this paper summarizes recent research on credibility related to the social Q&A context, identifies research gaps, and presents a research agenda for future research to advance this newly developing area.
The present study surveyed 225 undergraduates to examine their social media use behaviors and their perceptions of usefulness, trustworthiness, and privacy of social media for seeking and sharing health information. 151 respondents reported using social media for health information while 74 reported not using it for health matters. Results show that the most popular medium were social Q&As, followed by blogs and social networking sites. Age, gender, school year, and the presence of a health problem were associated with the social media use behaviors. This study suggests the potential of social media as a desired channel for providing health information to undergraduates.