USERS’ MOTIVATION TO CONTINUE THE USE OF SHORT VIDEO APPLICATIONS AS A SOURCE OF HEALTH INFORMATION

Abstract

 The use of social media to access healthcare information is nothing new. Avid users find the short video apps a new potential for disseminating quick fix solutions to many of their everyday problems, including recipes and how-to. However, it is still unclear how short video apps might facilitate and benefit users’ consumption of health information. Many users face the risk of misdiagnosis and may result in more serious problems. To address this issue, this study set out to investigate the relationship between users’ experience and whether that contributes to users’ intention to continue using short video apps to obtain health information. A total of 160 young adults (under 25 years old) answered the questionnaire and were administered online. The study found that the users’ experience, in terms of social presence, immersion and credibility perception, significantly predict users’ intention to continue using short video apps to obtain health information. The findings of this study have several implications. First, the study contributes to the health information behavior literature by incorporating the aspect of user experience. Moreover, the study extends the application of affordance theory to users’ health information acquisition, and it carries some practical implications on how to leverage the great potential of short video apps to serve public health communication better.