Developing a Social Support Framework: Understanding the Reciprocity in Human-Chatbot Relationship

Chatbots are increasingly used to provide social support for individuals with mental health challenges. However, a systematic analysis of the types and directionality of support within chatbot use remains lacking. This study establishes a framework for understanding reciprocal social support exchanges in human-chatbot relationships, focusing on the popular chatbot, Replika. By analyzing 496 posts and 20,494 comments from the largest Replika community on Reddit, we identified 27 support subcategories, organized into five main types (functional, informational, emotional, esteem, and network) and two directions (chatbot-receiving and chatbot-giving). Our findings reveal significant yet controversial issues, such as subscription services and chatbot-displayed affection. Notably, "user teaching chatbot" emerged as a core aspect of the human-chatbot relationship, covering how users actively guide and refine the chatbot's learning or algorithm. This study constructs a novel social support framework for chatbot use, highlighting the potential for reciprocal support exchanges between users and chatbots.