How Social Media Contribute to Autists' Wellbeing

Abstract

Electronic social networks have expanded communication possibilities. This chapter aims to present how such platforms allow the formation of virtual communities to support and exchange information and the inclusion of people with ASD (autism spectrum disorders) by comparing brand virtual communities from two countries, five from Brazil and one from the USA. Among interpretative methods, netnography and manual content analysis considering posts on each community were performed. Also, tweets about Autism Awareness Day were analyzed. As a result, it was possible to see that virtual communities' contribution allows dialogue among autists' relatives, releasing their suffering and sharing acceptable practices. Among contributions, this study helps to know the differences among various virtual communities and content in terms of viralization in health marketing.