Comment Sections Can Influence Readers Opinion On Health-Related Topics; Can Either Be Bad Or Good Depending On Average Opinion?

With today's variety of people on the internet, it must be known that there will also be a lot of opinions going to be thrown out in any digital media outlet. Since this is a true fact and that the comment section on some websites can be very unappealing, there are people who get paid to monitor this specific part of a website, which are called moderators.

Now, a recent survey reveals that even though it is a known fact that comments can affect someone on the internet sometimes it is not really taken heavily. The truth is, comment can cause more than just a hurt ego because health advisors reveal that in health sites, comments can cause a change of opinion of someone reading on the website's article.

According to the survey, comments can influence a readers' opinion about health related topics. The study, which was led by Holy Witteman form the Universite Laval, wherein he had over 1,700 participant of whom he asked to read a mock news article on home birth.

The mock article, which Holy Witteman gave to the 1,700 participants, was a mix of real news from several news articles in U.S. publications. "We took paragraphs from each source, including quotes from health care professionals who were for or against home birth in order to create a balanced news item," Holy Witteman commented.

Participants who viewed with balance comments and read the article without comments expressed an average opinion of 52. The average opinion for the negative comment was at 39 percent, while the average opinion for the positive comments was at 63 percent.

"However, this doesn't mean we should shut down comment sections or attempt to suppress personal stories," says Witteman. "If sites fail to host such discussions, they are likely to simply happen elsewhere. Although the quality of comments is sometimes debatable, social media is a valuable tool that allows people to share and find information on subjects related to their health. That kind of engagement is arguably a good thing."