How Culture Influences the "Social" in Social Media: Socializing and Advertising on Smartphones in India and the United States

The Bumble motivations framework- exploring a dating App's uses by emerging adults in India

Researchers have called for a better understanding of the differing motivations of dating app users. Whereas these have been described for Tinder, Grinder and Hinge in the Anglosphere, no research examples could be found for Indian users of Bumble. In response, this paper's pathfinder study helps close the gap by developing a Bumble motivation scale. Six primary motivations for using Bumble were identified through the exploratory factor analysis: Love, Socialisation, Ease of communication, Distraction, Trendiness, and Sexual experience. Notably, socialisation and love motivations emerged as more significant drivers for Bumble usage than sexual experiences, which contrasted with prior findings on dating apps. Additionally, age and biological sex differences were observed in the motivations reported by the participants. Men were more likely to use Bumble for sexual experiences, while women were more motivated by ease of communication. Furthermore, age was found to positively relate to motivations linked to love, distraction, trendiness, and sexual experiences. Moreover, the motivations of Love, socialisation, and trendiness were found to positively predict the frequency of Bumble usage. Among these motivations, Love, socialisation, and trendiness emerged as significant predictors of offline dating behaviour among the participants. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the factors influencing the adoption and engagement with Bumble among emerging adults in India. The implications of these findings may aid in refining dating app features and marketing strategies targeted at this specific demographic.

'Routine' versus 'Smart Phone Application Based - Intense' follow up of patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: Impact on clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction

Background

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) refers to the spectrum of clinical presentation of coronary artery disease (CAD). As a routine practice at our institute, following PCI, ACS patients are called for the first follow up after two weeks. This period of two weeks can be full of anxieties, concerns and medical issues. In this study, we planned to assess the feasibility/acceptability of smart phone application (app) based system for patient follow-up and its comparison to routine practice among patients with ACS who have undergone a PCI.

Methods

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted over a period of one year from January to December 2017. After the PCI was deemed successful, patients were recruited and enrolled based on the understanding of basic English language and operation of a smart phone. Those who consented to be part of study were then randomly allocated either the conventional follow up group or the intense follow up (routine + smart phone app based follow up) group. First co- primary outcome was composite of clinical outcomes (mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, target vessel revascularisation, heart failure admission and emergency visit). Second co- primary outcome was patient satisfaction. The overall patient satisfaction was assessed by the patients using a five-point patient satisfaction survey instrument containing five questions with 5 marks each, in which higher scores meant more satisfaction. Secondary outcome was controlled hypertension in hypertensive patients. It was defined as systolic BP less than 130 and diastolic BP less than 80 mmHg.

Results

A cohort of 228 patients (109 in intense app-based arm; 119 in routine follow up arm) were analyzed. The result showed significant improvement in blood pressure control in hypertensive population in intense app based follow up group (76.2%) when compared to routine follow up group (45%) with p value 0.0062. The satisfaction score was significantly higher in the intense app based follow up (20.7 ± 1.29) as compared to routine follow up (16.5 ± 2.68); p value 0.0001. In the intense app based follow up 72.5% patient felt it was excellent tool (score 21-25) while 27.5% categorized it as good (score 16-20). While the routine follows up was perceived as good by most (91.6%) of the patients. Only 4.2% graded it as excellent and an equal number (4.2%) graded it as a poor way of follow up.

Conclusions

App based system shows higher satisfaction rate and comparable clinical outcome when compared to traditional hospital based follow up protocol alone. It has a high acceptance rate and thus this system should be explored further to optimize long term patient care.

Impact of Perceived Security on Organizational Adoption of Smartphones

Organizational adoption of new technologies is a practically important research area. The present study aims to investigate the impact of perceived security on organizational adoption of mobile communication technologies, specifically smartphones. For this purpose, a research model is developed extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The research model is tested using a structural equation modeling based on data that were collected from senior managers of 201 private sector organizations in Turkey. The results show that, along with the traditional constructs of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, perceived security significantly affects organizations' adoption of smartphones. Both the theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.