Online Communication Platform Research Articles

Analyses of Factors Influencing Travel Consumers’ Satisfaction and Loyalty as Revealed by Online Communication Platform: A Case Study of TripAdvisor

The continuing evolution of on-line platforms, which are now at the heart of modern commerce, has had a considerable impact on the tourism and hospitality business. On-line platforms are often less capital intensive than the business that they intermediate – allowing them to achieve significant market power in short periods of time. A concentration of tourism market power is rarely beneficial for travel consumers. The widespread public use of TripAdvisor has effectively positioned itself as a new breed of moderate Travel Agencies and hotels by launching its Instant Booking service recently. It has generated a number of conditions a key marketing opportunity – that have been game-changers – in both beneficial and detrimental ways – to tourism and hospitality business. As a result, many travel agencies and hotels in the 21 st century have had to make considerable adaptations to remain solvent and relevant. This study extends the body of knowledge on the influence of perceived quality service (PQS) and perceived price (P) on post-purchase perceptions, satisfaction, intention behavior and loyalty of travel consumers, by enriching its content in the area of tourism and hospitality. Moreover, understanding how online tourists’ reviews – as powerful source of information - affecting online travel agencies and hotel booking decisions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how TripAdvisor assessment in travel agencies and hotels in Egypt that contributes to satisfaction and loyalty from the consumer perspective, considering the online dimension of recommendations. This research study applies research method that a quantitative approach directly enriches the research study with different viewpoints from online tourists’ reviews (as stakeholders) and provides a better understanding of study problems. Findings revealed significant inter-relationships are obtained in TripAdvisor use perception, satisfaction with both the travel agency and the hotel, dimensions of loyalty in travel services and the mediating effect of positive online tourist intention to recommend the travel agency and hotel is confirmed. Research limitations/implications – Future research can replicate these interrelationships in other travel services and employ multidimensional scales to measure online tourist attitudes and behavior.

Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Resource for Public Health Practitioners.

Quality improvement is a critical mechanism to manage public health agency performance and to strengthen accountability for public funds. The objective of this study was to evaluate a relatively new quality improvement resource, the Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange (PHQIX), a free online communication platform dedicated to making public health quality improvement information accessible to practitioners. We conducted an internet-based survey of registered PHQIX users (n = 536 respondents) in 2013 and key informant interviews with PHQIX frequent users (n = 21) in 2014, in the United States. We assessed use of the PHQIX website, user engagement and satisfaction, communication and knowledge exchange, use of information, and impact on quality improvement capacity and accreditation readiness. Of 462 respondents, 369 (79.9%) browsed quality improvement initiatives, making it the most commonly used site feature, and respondents described PHQIX as a near-unique source for real-world quality improvement examples. Respondents were satisfied with the quality and breadth of topics and relevance to their settings (average satisfaction scores, 3.9-4.1 [where 5 was the most satisfied]). Of 407 respondents, 237 (58.2%) said that they had put into practice information learned on PHQIX, and 209 of 405 (51.6%) said that PHQIX had helped to improve quality improvement capacity. Fewer than half of respondents used the commenting function, the Community Forum, and the Ask an Expert feature. Findings suggest that PHQIX, particularly descriptions of the quality improvement initiatives, is a valued resource for public health practitioners. Users reported sharing information with colleagues and applying what they learned to their own work. These findings may relate to other efforts to disseminate quality improvement knowledge.

Social Web Identity Established upon Trust and Reputations

Online social networks have become a seamless and critical online communication platform for personal interactions. They are a powerful tool that businesses are using to expand among domestic markets. The increase in participation in online social networking can and has caused damage to individuals and organizations, and the issuance of trust has become a concern on the social web. The factors determining the reputation of persons (customers) in the real world may relate to the factors of reputation on the social web, though relative to how trust is established in the physical world, establishing trust on the social web can be fairly difficult. Determining how to trust another individual’s online social profile becomes critical in initiating any interaction on the social web. Rather than focusing on content on the social network page, this research proposes and examines the application of user reputations to determine whether the trust should be issued on the social web. A top-level framework to establish trust in an identity on the Social Network Sites (SNS) as a function of the users’ associations, usage patterns and reputation on the social web is presented.

J30 Iqare: E-health And E-learning For Patients With Huntington Disease: For Better Care At Home

Background Most patients with HD which to stay at home as long as possible, if proper care can be provided. Patients need fully access to both caregivers, counsellors and informal caregivers. Patients and local medical staff seek knowledge on evidence based treatment. IQare is an online communication platform that may provide both e-health- and e-learning solutions to meet these ends. Methods Within the project, Topaz provides 80 patients living at home and their family with a shuttle PC and an individual IQare-account. They are able to make video calls to their practitioners at Huntington Centre Topaz (HCT). Local practitioners and doctors will get an account of their own, giving them access to state of the art knowledge on HD. They can make a video call to specialist HD practitioners at HCT. A triangle relationship is established between (1) patients/family and HCT (e-health); (2) HCT and local medical staff (knowledge sharing, e-learning); (3) local medical staff and HD-patients (professional care). Results A Client Committee, consisting of committed family members, is directly linked to the project staff. The virtual platform has a database of information and instruction videos; as well as possibilities for video calling, agenda sharing, FAQ, forum, local news and fun and games. IQare has proven its efficacy in long term care in Scotland. Efficacy research will show whether IQare really contributes to the ability to stay at home as long as possible Conclusion With the help of patients and their families it is possible to build a communication platform for e-health and e-learning.

Moodle Mobile Notifier

E-learning management systems (eLMS) are increasingly used as online communication platform between students and teachers in traditional, distance and open learning educational institutions. Moodle [10] is the most used open-source e-LMS platform with around 68 million users being served worldwide [9]. This serverside application can be accessed via a web browser, on any computer or Internet-enabled hand-held device (smart phone, tablet, etc.). However, this system has three limitations: first, the lack of synchronization between client and server applications, in other words between posting (server side) and viewing (client side) the information. The second limitation is that students cannot easily differentiate between newly and previously seen information. This is because most of the Moodle posts are not tagged with dates (except news and messages). The third limitation arises specifically when the Moodle server is accessed from a hand-held device using mobile telecommunication networks where bandwidth is considered as a scarce resource (low data rates and limited download/upload quotas). This limitation is caused by the ”useless” exchange of high amount of data to load all page contents even if no new information has been posted. The above listed limitations have negative impact on the tutor-student communication when eLMS platforms are used. This article proposes a system based on a three-tier architecture named Mobile Moodle Notifier (MMN) to overcome these limitations: the first tier is a mobile application (built on Google Android operating system [3]) that communicates with Moodle using low-level programming (socket programming) in order to reduce the bandwidth and download data consumption. The second tier is a server-side application that feeds the users (mobile application) with newly posted information from the third tier, which is the extended - Moodle database. Performance tests show a 50 times faster execution time and 300 times less download data consumption on average using MMN compared to accessing Moodle via a regular web browser.

The Efficacy of Online Communication Platforms for Plastic Surgeons Providing Extended Disaster Relief

Immediately after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, plastic surgeons provided disaster relief services through the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine for 5 months. To improve surgical care and promote awareness of plastic surgery's role in humanitarian assistance, an online communication platform (OCP) was initiated. An OCP is a Web-based application combining Web blogging, picture uploading, news posting, and private messaging systems into a single platform. The purpose of this study was to analyze the use of OCP during disaster relief. Surgeries performed during the period from January 13 to May 28, 2010, were documented. The OCP was established with 4 priorities: ease of use, multimedia integration, organization capabilities, and security. Web traffic was documented. A 17-question survey was administered to 18 plastic surgeons who used the OCP after 1 year to assess their attitudes and perceptions. From January 13 to May 28, 2010, 413 operations were performed at the field hospital. Of the overall number of procedures, 46.9% were performed by plastic surgery teams. In a year, beginning from January 12, 2011, the OCP had 1117 visits with 530 absolute unique visitors. Of 17 plastic surgeons, 71% responded that the OCP improved follow-up and continuity of care by debriefing rotating plastic surgery teams. One hundred percent claimed that the OCP conveyed the role of plastic surgeons with the public. Results demonstrate the necessity of OCP during disaster relief. Online communication platform permitted secure exchange of surgical management details, follow-up, photos, and miscellaneous necessary recommendations. Posted experiences and field hospital progress assisted in generating substantial awareness regarding the significant role and contribution played by plastic surgeons in disaster relief.

It's time for the nursing profession to leverage social media

It's time for the nursing profession to leverage social media

Putting Their Best Foot Forward: Emotional Disclosure on Facebook

Facebook has become a widely used online self-representation and communication platform. In this research, we focus on emotional disclosure on Facebook. We conducted two studies, and results from both self-report and observer rating show that individuals are more likely to express positive relative to negative emotions and present better emotional well-being on Facebook than in real life. Our study is the first to demonstrate impression management on Facebook through emotional disclosure. We discuss important theoretical and practical implications of our study.

Reality Bytes: Using Technology in Mooting

This article considers how law schools can facilitate the development of technology skills by using technology to enhance access to mooting in settings that replicate legal practice. The authors conducted research into the use of technology by Australian law schools for mooting and evaluated an internal mooting competition using Elluminate, an online communication platform available to students through Blackboard. The analysis of the results of the survey and the Elluminate competition will demonstrate that technology can be used in mooting to provide an authentic learning experience. The paper concludes that while it is essential to teach technology skills as part of legal education, it is important that the benefits of using technology are made clear in order for it to be accepted and embraced by the students. Technology must also be available to all students considering the widening participation in higher education and consequent increasing diversity of law students.