Post your journey: Instagram as a support community for people with fibromyalgia

Research into the impact that social media websites have on various aspects of physical, mental and spiritual health, remains in its infancy. Now a new study has looked at how Instagram has become a recent resource allowing people with fibromyalgia to interact in a virtual community devoted to the condition.

The authors should be applauded for looking at how such a community develops and maintains itself on Instagram and the ways it creates social capital for its users.

Using content analysis and semiotic methodology, they analysed the diverse ways that users share their experiences with fibromyalgia, the management of its symptoms and issues encountered in accessing health care systems.

“Instagram aids in the development of a community by facilitating intimate and supportive interactions about the illness and the creation of personalized day-to-day narratives accessible to all,” the groups comments. “Norms of trust, acceptance, and reciprocity characterize the diversity of interactions in this community.”

Click here to read the original study.

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