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Online information seekers often do not actively post or engage in interactions with others, inviting research on how passive users of online communities benefit from the information they see. Based on the social identity model of deindividuation effects model (SIDE) and social identity theory, we proposed and tested the idea that observers of a supportive interaction online could relate to the observed support seeker based on their shared gender and, in turn, become vicariously influenced by the support provider’s message to the support seeker. An experiment using a sample of young adults (N = 326) in the United States provided support to the proposition. Furthermore, the outcomes of the vicarious interaction were qualified by the genders of the observed interactants and enhanced by the lack of profile photos. The findings advance the understandings of vicarious interaction in online context and guide the …