DailyStrength.com attracts a wide range of people with needs. Participants of this online support group include everyday people and professionals such as health experts and advisors. Due to the fact that there a numerous amounts of online support group communities, each community has its own community leader that overlooks how the public forum is being run. These community leaders are individuals that are more than qualified to provide support and information about certain questions or topics. They are also there to answer questions whenever needed, not 24/7 but are almost online all the time.
The way DailyStrength users are profiled and presented is through the availability of a people tab on the menu bar. Once clicked, users are characterized in four different groups: All, Online Now, Newest Members, and Members in Need. When either tab is selected, a profile image or picture is displayed along with the user’s selected username. You also have the option to view the users in the form they originally are, tiled or if not in a list style. When chosen in the list view, the users appeared provide more profile description such as age, state of mood, location, and their about me description. Once a profile is selected, you are directed towards a different page that provides that user’s personal profile and what they have chosen to expose to the public.
During my research, I decided to click on one of the profiles of a female who’s current mood status was a red sad face. When I opened up her profile, I saw that her about me was short and straight to the point. She admitted her current struggle with having an Eating Disorder since the very young age of 12:
“My Name is Laura. I am no longer a professional singer and dancer. I have finished school for hospital ward clerk but it is impossible to actually get a job.. I have struggled with my E.D from the age of 12, and it brought many other issues along with it. I just want to be happy and healthy!”
Her recent activity in participating in certain forums as well as her online journal entries are displayed. Also, there is a list of certain treatments she has tried and she has been able to state her experience with them as “not working” or “somewhat helpful”.
Then I decided to research a male who is around the same age as the female, in a complete different location yet had the red sad face status on his profile. His about me is pretty much similar to that of Laura above. He speaks directly about having problems with anxiety and depression, and that he hopes to overcome those to be happy and meet new people. There is also a list of treatments he has tried, as well as the percentage in completing his goal of gaining confidence.
No matter the gender, both users are very open and similar in exposing their current situations and issues they are dealing in everyday life. What I also saw very interesting is that they both provided a profile picture with their actual portrait. This is something not so common in DailyStrength because I can say that from my experience browsing around to see the users listed, the majority utilized an icon or left the default blank profile outline as their profile picture. Especially when one clicks the “In Need” tab, the majority of the users there listed do not have a set profile picture. I do not know if that means that they just don’t want to risk getting recognized and labeled with the disease/problem they are coming forward with, or they just simply didn’t bother to complete their profile (which at signup, completing a profile is optional).