Usage of Social Media and Smartphone Application in Assessment of Physical and Psychological Well-Being of Individuals in Times of a Major Air Pollution Crisis

Zhang, Melvyn WB; Ho, Cyrus SH; Fang, Pan; Lu, Yanxia; Ho, Roger CM

Table 2 summarizes the demographic characteristics of the participants who took part in our Web-based survey either via a direct link to the Web-based questionnaire, or via our Facebook-sponsored post and smartphone application. The demographics data captured by our Web-based database (Polldaddy) did not manage to distinguish between users who have accessed the Web-based questionnaire via Facebook or via Smartphone application. Most of the respondents in the current study (112/183, 61.4%) selected the option of accessing the questionnaire directly via the Web link that was emailed to them. Only 38.5% (44/115) of the respondents accessed the questionnaire toolkit via our Facebook post or via our smartphone Web-based application, which showed quantitatively that newer mechanisms of access were less popular. Chi-square statistical analysis was conducted to determine whether demographic variables (gender, educational status, and age) were indeed significant predictors influencing the mechanism of access (direct vs Facebook or smartphone application). Comparisons between the two groups were done and demographic variables, such as gender (χ2 1=0.101, P=.809), educational status (χ2 1=0.82, P=.413), and age (divided into 2 groups: younger than 29, and older than 30) (χ2 2=2.33, P=.311) were found to be insignificant in influencing mechanism of access.