OPINION LEADERS FOR HEALTH: FORMATIVE RESEARCH WITH BLOGGERS ABOUT HEALTH INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

The area of opinion leadership is a concept found in a number of health promotion models, theories, and frameworks (Valente & Pumpuang, 2007), and it has received a substantial amount of empirical and theoretical attention by social scientists over the last 20 years (Valente & Davis, 1999). Most empirical research in this area has found that opinion leaders can be used to gain support for and implement health promotion programs in local communities (Valente & Pumpuang, 2007). With the advent of the Internet, individuals from all walks of life can have access to more information, access it more quickly, and have it curated through the online channels they trust. As more and more interactions take place online, interest in how opinion leaders have migrated online is increasing among a number of interdisciplinary researchers, including those within the communication discipline (Bodendorf & Kaiser, 2009; Dubois & Gaffney, 2014; Kavanaugh et al., 2006; Nisbet & Kotcher, 2009; Song, Chi, Hino & Tseng, 2007). Yet, empirical research into the roles these online layperson opinion leaders play in health promotion remains scarce (Sundar, Edwards, Hu & Stavrositu, 2007). While relatively little research has looked at how online opinion leaders can impact health promotion initiatives, preliminary research suggests that they have a similar ability to traditional opinion leaders to support and influence health promotion and behavior change programs (Burke-Garcia et al., 2017; Burke-Garcia et al., 2018; Kaye, 2005; Lin & Huang, 2006; Porter et al., 2007; Terilli & Arnorsdottir, 2008).