Despite considerable media attention, portable electronic readers (e-readers) have not yet had a significant consumer impact. They offer several features unavailable in print media, such as easily accessible content and potential for interactive capacity similar to what can be found on the Internet. Flawed design and high cost, however, may inhibit wide end-user adoption. Using a mix of scholar...

During the past decade, the proliferation of social media has infiltrated various sectors of social and business communications. Of particular interest is the growth of health related websites and the healthcare sector’s adoption of social media. In this paper, we develop a typology of health 2.0 collaboration platforms and websites. According to the proposed typology, two major types of actors...

This chapter explores what makes online advertising different from traditional advertising channels. We argue that online advertising differs from traditional advertising channels in two important ways: measurability and targetability. Measurability is higher because the digital nature of online advertising means that responses to ads can be tracked relatively easily. Targetability is higher be...

An advertisement for Applebox Productions depicts the new youth consumer: his scraggly dishwater blonde hair hangs down into his glaring eyes, his chin is thrust out, his mouth is turned down into a challenging sneer, and his finger posed over the remote. One false move and he'll zap us. He's young, male, and in control. No longer a couch potato, he determines what, when, and how he watches med...

This commentary explores the implications of increased social media marketing by drug manufacturers, based on findings in Hyosun Kim’s article of the major themes in recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning letters and notices of violation regarding online direct-to-consumer promotions of pharmaceuticals. Kim’s rigorous analysis of FDA letters over a 10-year span highlights a relative ...

Media are “[media] means effecting or conveying something such as (1) a surrounding or enveloping substance; or (2) a condition or environment in which something may function or flourish; or (3) mode of artistic expression or communication.” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.) In the case of ambient media, the humans’ natural environment becomes to the “enveloping media” as an environment in which content ...

this commentary explores the implications of increased social media marketing by drug manufacturers, based on findings in hyosun kim’s article of the major themes in recent food and drug administration (fda) warning letters and notices of violation regarding online direct-to-consumer promotions of pharmaceuticals. kim’s rigorous analysis of fda letters over a 10-year span highlights a relative ...

Recent literature has discussed the unintended consequences of clinical information technologies (IT) on patient safety, yet there has been little discussion about the safety concerns in the area of consumer health IT. This paper presents a range of safety concerns for consumers in social media, with a case study on YouTube. We conducted a scan of abstracts on 'quality criteria' related to YouT...

Consumer Brand Engagement in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development & Validation Abstract In the last three decades an influential research stream has emerged, which highlights the dynamics of focal consumer/brand relationships. Specifically, more recently the ‘consumer brand engagement’ (CBE) concept has been postulated to more comprehensively reflect the nature of consumers’ parti...