The Current State of Online Social Networking for the Health Community: Where Trust Modeling Research May Be of Value

In this paper, we discuss the prevalence of misleading information in health-oriented online social networks and discussion boards. With increasing numbers of patients and caregivers browsing online for insights into how to address their speci c health problems, and with a growing tendency to value the opinions of peers when making choices about healthcare solutions, it is important for computer science researchers to develop strategies that can be introduced to enable each person to be better informed. We begin with a brief report on some of the activity currently observed in online communities. From here, we advocate the use of trust modeling, an approach examined by arti cial intelligence researchers in the sub eld of multi-agent systems. In particular, we sketch some speci c solutions to integrate, based on frameworks that we have developed which have been validated as e ective in presenting bene cial messages to users. We conclude with a view to the future, both with respect to re nement of our trust modeling solutions, and with respect to engagement of government, healthcare providers and individuals.