Table 1.
Activity of six WebMD online health communities
| Diabetes | Pain | ADHD | MS | Sexual Health | Heart Disease | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 6/07-5/12 | 9/07-6/12 | 7/05-6/12 | 3/08-1/13 | 1/09-1/13 | 5/08-5/12 |
| Total number of threads | 8,549 | 4,656 | 2,313 | 4,943 | 10,278 | 4,146 |
| # posters | 4,401 | 5,855 | 2,997 | 2,721 | 13,634 | 3,825 |
| Average posts per poster | 14.98 | 4.67 | 2.9 | 10.3 | 5.0 | 3.2 |
| # Health professional moderators | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| # Staff moderators | 15 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 |
| Threads with no replies | 0.8% | 9.4% | 5.1% | 2.1% | 1.7% | 4.2% |
| Average posts per day | 48.0 | 20.5 | 7.3 | 18.6 | 39.4 | 9.3 |
| Patient initiated threads | 90.5% | 96.1% | 95.6% | 96.8% | 96.6% | 94.8% |
| Health professional moderated threads (number of threads) | 3.7% (319) | 4.3% (198) | 6.4% (149) | 5.1% (254) | 2.3% (241) | 32.4% (1343) |
| Staff moderated threads (number of threads) | 17.6% (1506) | 14.1% (656) | 21.1% (488) | 1.3% (64) | 1.8% (187) | 2.7% (111) |
| Health professional and staff moderated threads (number of threads) | 1.6% (129) | 1.2% (57) | 0.4% (10) | 0.2% (9) | 0.1% (7) | 0.6% (24) |
| Non-moderated threads (number of threads) | 66.1% (5,650) | 78.5% (3653) | 67.7% (1565) | 90.2% (4,459) | 92.3% (9,491) | 59.1% (2,452) |