Analyzing online discussion forums - What do people share?

The abundance of data in online discussion forums (ODFs) not only provides a potential source of knowledge but also reflects the underlying social structure. Most researchers have perceived ODFs as being homogeneous in their structure and content. However, ODFs can be classified on the basis of their overall intended goals such as fostering the transfer of domain-specific information, and providing social and emotional support. With the focus on two genres of ODFs, namely, technical ODFs and support ODFs, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the type of content they attract as well as to compare the extent to which users in each ODF genre share domain knowledge, engage in social interactions and express their emotions. A total of 1800 messages were sampled from six ODFs (three technical ODFs and three support ODFs), and thereafter analyzed using a coding scheme developed based on the type of forum activities. Our findings showed that technical ODFs were predominantly focused on sharing domain knowledge through theories, procedures and facts. However, it is noteworthy that findings indicate some extent of social interaction and emotional disclosure in technical ODFs too. Support ODFs on the other hand, were observed to be inclined towards emotional disclosure and social interaction. However, support ODFs have also been found to contain some level of domain knowledge.