Wearable Devices for Health and Wellbeing: Design Insights from Twitter

Abstract

Wearable devices are increasingly recognized for their potential to improve health and wellbeing. However, challenges remain for wide-scale adoption and use. This paper explores perception and reactions towards wearable devices with a particular emphasis on factors that influence the adoption and use to improve health and well-being and which can also inform their design as components of a behavioral change system. We use social media analytics to analyze and categorize tweets related to major manufacturers of consumer wearable devices from June 1, 2017 – May 31, 2018. We used extant literature on the design of persuasive systems to inform the definition of pertinent categories. The findings confirmed the relevance of persuasive design features such as Dialog, credibility, and social support, though to various degrees. The analysis sheds light on other user priorities pertaining to device characteristics, integration with other systems, issues surrounding actually wearing these devices on a regular basis.