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comment sections to find solution for the issue. While our analytical approach is grounded in
communication sociology, our objectives extend beyond mere cultural identification. Employing a
communicative behaviour paradigm, we strive to gain insights into how their rhetorical contributions can
be incorporated into dengue prevention and control strategies.

Methodology

Data was collected from a community Facebook - "Shah Alam Residents (tak suka band orang)," the largest
online community group in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. This group has an astounding membership of
over 69,000 and is run by a non-governmental entity. To gain access to the content posted by members of
this group, one of our researchers became a member, which required compliance with the group's content
standards and approval by the group's moderator to verify authenticity. Specific criteria were employed to
select postings for inclusion in this study. These criteria included postings about tips, remedies,
treatments, suggestions, or advice and those that received many comments (more than 30). Posts that
met these criteria were rigorously analysed to identify comments related to dengue made by other group
members. This observation was extensively documented by keeping detailed field notes and capturing
screenshots of participants' posts and the comments they received in response to the postings. This study
adopts Androutsopoulos (2008) framework of discourse-centred online ethnography, which is based on
the principles of online participant observation. This paradigm allows for investigating participants'
contextualised use of social media, and their associated discourse practises while building links with
observable conversational patterns. All data gathered throughout the observation phase was grouped
based on themes that emerged during the subsequent analysis.

Finding

Analysis

This analysis has yielded a range of themes focusing on how social media users practically apply local
knowledge in the context of treating dengue fever in the online environment. Following the coding
protocol data mentioned above, we have identified four primary themes related to dengue treatment
frequently employed by Facebook users: 1) plant-based treatments, 2) animal-based treatments, 3)
supplement-based treatments, and 4) fluid-based treatments. These findings demonstrate the diverse
approaches Facebook users adopt via digital media for dengue treatment.

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