Individual and social benefits of online discussion forums

TLDR

Online interaction has sparked debate over its benefits and costs, and the study’s findings are framed within broader theoretical and applied implications. The study investigates how engagement in online discussion forums benefits users’ well‑being and offline civic engagement, focusing on the role of forum identification. The study surveyed users from diverse online discussion forums, hypothesizing that exceeding expectations would increase forum identification. Forum identification mediated the positive effects on life satisfaction and offline civic involvement, with these relationships moderated by whether the forum addressed a stigmatized topic.

Abstract

There has been much debate surrounding the potential benefits and costs of online interaction. The present research argues that engagement with online discussion forums can have underappreciated benefits for users’ well-being and engagement in offline civic action, and that identification with other online forum users plays a key role in this regard. Users of a variety of online discussion forums participated in this study. We hypothesized and found that participants who felt their expectations had been exceeded by the forum reported higher levels of forum identification. Identification, in turn, predicted their satisfaction with life and involvement in offline civic activities. Formal analyses confirmed that identification served as a mediator for both of these outcomes. Importantly, whether the forum concerned a stigmatized topic moderated certain of these relationships. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical and applied implications.