"I can't get no sleep": Discussing #insomnia on Twitter

  • Sue Jamison-Powell
  • , Conor Linehan
  • , Laura Daley
  • , Andrew Garbett
  • , Shaun Lawson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingsChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Emerging research has shown that social media services are being used as tools to disclose a range of personal health information. To explore the role of social media in the discussion of mental health issues, and with particular reference to insomnia and sleep disorders, a corpus of 18,901 messages - or Tweets - posted to the microblogging social media service Twitter were analysed using a mixed methods approach. We present a content analysis which revealed that Tweets that contained the word "insomnia" contained significantly more negative health information than a random sample, strongly suggesting that individuals were making disclosures about their sleep disorder. A subsequent thematic analysis then revealed two themes: coping with insomnia, and describing the experience of insomnia. We discuss these themes as well as the implications of our research for those in the interaction design community interested in integrating online social media systems in health interventions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationConference Proceedings - The 30th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2012
Pages1501-1510
Number of pages10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes
Event30th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2012 - Austin, TX, United States
Duration: 5 May 201210 May 2012

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference30th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAustin, TX
Period5/05/1210/05/12

Keywords

  • Health
  • Insomnia
  • Mental health
  • Microblogging
  • Self-disclosure
  • Twitter

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