Objective:

The objective of this study was to gain an expanded understanding of how individuals affected by epilepsy use the social media platform Reddit, by examining patterns of user engagement across different types of posts within the "r/Epilepsy" subreddit community.

Background:

Social media platforms, such as Reddit, have become influential spaces for public discourse and community formation. Within these virtual environments, individuals exchange experiences, seek advice, and disseminate both accurate and inaccurate information. The Reddit subgroup  "r/Epilepsy" (60K+ members) functions as an active online community where individuals affected by epilepsy engage in peer-to-peer communication, share personal experiences, and offer support.

Design/Methods:

Data was collected from "r/Epilepsy" via Reddit’s public API over a three-year period. Posts were categorized by user-assigned “flairs,” which reflect the topic or intent of each post. Using Python programming and Microsoft Copilot, posts were analyzed for proportion of "flair" type and engagement metrics (total comments, mean and median comments per post, and average score). Analyses were performed in Python and summarized in Microsoft Excel with assistance from ChatGPT.

Results:

A total of 986 posts were analyzed. The most frequent flairs were “Question” (52.33%), “Rant” (13.29%), “Support” (11.56%), and “Medication” (8.62%), while “Victory” (2.33%), “Discussion” (1.83%), and “Advice” (1.42%) were least common. Posts labeled “Support” demonstrated the highest average user engagement (13.89 comments/post), followed by “Question” (12.17) and “Rant” (11.23). Despite comprising only 2.3% of all posts, “Victory” posts showed elevated engagement (~10 comments/post).

Conclusions:

Most Epilepsy posts on Reddit are information-seeking in nature; however, user engagement patterns indicate that emotional expression and social support elicit the greatest interaction. These findings highlight the dual role of online health communities in providing both informational and psychosocial support for individuals living with epilepsy.