title: Understanding interactions in virtual HIV communities: a social network analysis approach.
abstract: This study investigated the driving mechanism of building interaction ties among the people living with HIV/AIDS in one of the largest virtual HIV communities in China using social network analysis. Specifically, we explained the probability of forming interaction ties with homophily and popularity characteristics. The exponential random graph modeling results showed that members in this community tend to form homophilous ties in terms of shared location and interests. Moreover, we found a tendency away from popularity effect. This suggests that in this community, resources and information were not disproportionally received by a few of members, which could be beneficial to the overall community.
authors.affiliation: a Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore.
authors.forename: Jingyuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: a Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: b Department of Communication , Michigan State University , East Lansing , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Tai-Quan
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: a Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D060756:Social Networking; D012944:Social Support
keywords: PLWHA interactions; Weibo HIV community; homophily; popularity effect; social network analysis