Emergence Of Virtual Communities As Means Of Communication: 
A Case Study On Virtual Health Care Communities

Year 2011, Volume: 12 Issue: 3, 277 - 294, 01.09.2011

Mehpare Tokay Argan Metin Argan Idil K. Suher

Abstract

The purpose of this case study is to put forth a descriptive analysis of virtual communities in the area of health and by doing so to shed light on quantitative and qualitative studies that might be undertaken in the future. It was aimed to carry out a descriptive content analysis in the virtual community chosen on the level of theme in relation to the level of knowledge, marketing practices, the establishment of forums, and the messages posted in the forums. For this purpose the web site called www.bebekkokusu.com was subjected to a content analysis within the context of virtual communities. The methods used were site analysis, descriptive content analysis and metrics about the forums within the context of a case study. The basic aim of content analysis is to identify notions and relations that would define the collected data (Yıldırım and Simsek, 2006; Argan et al, 2006).

Keywords

Internet, Communities, Virtual Communities, Health Care

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