Original article#Proana: Pro-Eating Disorder Socialization on Twitter
Section snippets
Setting
This descriptive study used public Twitter data from Pro-ED profiles and their followers, collected between February and April 2014. This study was determined to qualify as not human subjects' research by the University of Washington's institutional review board because public Twitter handles are avatars and are not identifiable, living individuals according to local and national regulations.
Pro-ED profile and follower sampling strategy
Our first goal was to identify a sample of Pro-ED profiles for evaluation. We used purposeful sampling
Pro-ED profile sample characteristics
Forty-five Pro-ED profiles were selected from Twitter, 86.7% (N = 39) of Pro-ED profiles displayed ED references in their profile name, screen name, or description. Furthermore, 64.4% (N = 29) displayed an ED reference in two or three of these locations, and 33.3% (N = 15) displayed an ED reference in all three of these locations. No Pro-ED profiles displayed references in their location.
Demographic data were not universally available, 13 profiles (28.9%) displayed an age; the mean was 17.7
Discussion
This study applied keywords from a validated clinical screen to Twitter content, examining a purposeful sample of Pro-ED profiles and their followers. Findings suggest that Pro-ED profiles are indeed created and expressed on the social media site of Twitter, and these online identities tend to attract an audience of followers who are like-minded individuals.
Our first finding is that more than a third (36.4%) of Pro-ED profiles' tweets were ED related. The presence of Twitter profiles dedicated
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Laura Hooper, MS, RD, CD in Adolescent Medicine at Seattle Children's Hospital, for special consultation on this project and Bradley Kerr for editing assistance. This research was presented in a poster symposium presentation at the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine Meeting 2015, and at the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team Conference 2014.
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Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest or financial disclosures to report.