Persuasive system design: social support elements to influence the Malaysian wellness in social media

Abstract

Obesity is a significant problem in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, where the report by The National Health and Morbidity Survey of 2015 emphasized that the country has the highest proportion of obese and overweight population in the region and it is increasing by the year. Recently, it was observed that the social media could be leveraged for influencing healthier lifestyle. It is believed that, to motivate people to engage with social media or any wellness system, social support is important. However, research indicated that the understanding of social support from the perspectives of system design is still lacking. This study aims to fill these gaps and have better understanding of social support through the Persuasive System Design (PSD). The objectives of this research are (i) to identify the social support elements within the persuasive design elements (ii) to qualitatively verify the social support elements for Malaysian wellness in social media. Qualitative data collection was conducted through social media content observations and focus group interviews with selected respondents. Five PSD elements in social support were identified. They are: social learning, social facilitation, social comparison, recognition and normative influence. The relevancy and significance of these elements towards the health and wellness motivation among Malaysian were also identified.