Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of online channel use in Beijing, China (N=542).
| Category and online health information channels | Meana (SD) | |
| Browsing channelsb |
|
|
|
|
WeChatc official accounts (ie, health-related official accounts, similar to Facebook pages) | 4.58 (1.92) |
|
|
Microblogs (ie, health microblogs, similar to Twitter) | 4.22 (2.05) |
|
|
Web portals (ie, health section, similar to Yahoo) | 3.85 (1.91) |
|
|
Online professional health sites (similar to WebMD) | 3.72 (1.98) |
|
|
Mobile phone health apps | 3.67 (2.05) |
|
|
Online forums (ie, forums related to a particular disease or health problem) | 3.61 (2.02) |
| Searching channelsb |
|
|
|
|
Search engines | 5.29 (1.64) |
|
|
Online encyclopedia sites | 4.61 (1.84) |
|
|
Question-and-answer sites | 4.51 (1.85) |
| Scanning channelsd |
|
|
|
|
WeChat Moments (similar to Facebook News Feed) | 5.12 (1.66) |
|
|
Web portals (ie, nonhealth sections) | 4.52 (1.67) |
|
|
Microblogs (ie, nonhealth microblogs) | 4.38 (1.81) |
|
|
Online forums (ie, nonhealth forums) | 4.06 (1.82) |
aScale of 1 to 7: 1=never, 7=very often.
bBrowsing channels and searching channels are the channels for active seeking.
cWeChat is China’s largest mobile messenger service and its functionality is similar to Facebook.
dScanning channels are the channels for incidental exposure, passive exposure, and routine seeking.