scholarly journals Infodemia and COVID-19: a text mining analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
W De Caro
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Text Mining ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Twitter Activity

Abstract Introduction Covid-19 epidemic lead a huge use of social media to comment and spread information from the widest sources. Infodemia looks at excessive amount of information circulating, which makes it difficult to orientate communities on a given topic due to the difficulty of identifying reliable sources. Using text mining analysis it is possible to identify what drives public conversation and impact of Covid-19. Methods Public perceptions in emergencies is traditionally measured with surveys. However, to have a global sight of the pandemia, Twitter represents a powerful tool which gives real-time monitoring of public perception. The study aimed to: 1) monitor the use of the terms “Covid-19” or “Coronarivus” over time; and 2) to conduct a specific text and sentiment analysis. Results Between January 10 and May 8, 2020, over 600 million tweets were retrieved. Of those 600.000 tweets were randomly selected, coded, and analyzed. About 10% of cases were identified as misinformation. Public figures, experts in public health, and virologists represent the most popular sources in comparison to the official government and health agencies. There is a positive correlation between Twitter activity peaks and COVID-19 infection peaks. Text mining analysis was carried out, as well as a content analysis, also in order to identify changing emotions and sentiments during time. This analysis, particularly during the lockdown, clearly shows that participation on social media can potentially have an effect on building social capital and social support. Conclusions This study confirms that using social media to conduct infodemic studies is an important area of development in public health arena. COVID-19 tweets were primarily used to disseminate information from credible sources, but were also a source of opinions, emotion and experiences. Tweets can be used for real-time content analysis and knowledge translation research, allowing health authorities to respond to public concerns. Key messages Social media is crucial for health information. Infodemia as new way for study health.

Retiring the Flip Phones: Exploring Social Media Use for Managing Public Health Incidents

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 859-867
Author(s):  
Yasmin Khan ◽  
Shannon Tracey ◽  
Tracey O’Sullivan ◽  
Effie Gournis ◽  
Ian Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Use Of Social Media

ABSTRACTObjective:Communication is essential during public health emergencies and incidents. This research aimed to understand current uses and challenges for public health agencies using social media during these incidents.Methods:An exploratory, qualitative study was conducted using the structured interview matrix facilitation technique. Focus groups were held with professionals from local public health agencies across Ontario, Canada. Representation from different geographic regions was sought to capture differences in participant experience. An inductive approach to content analysis was used to identify emergent themes.Results:A diverse group of public health professionals (n = 36) participated. Six themes were identified. Social media is identified as a communication tool used to expand reach of messages, to engage in dialogue with the public, and to inform the scope of potential incidents. Barriers to its use include hesitancy to adapt, lack of trust and credibility, and organizational structure and capacity constraints. Key strategies proposed to promote social media use and address barriers resulted from participant discussions and are presented.Conclusion:Social media use is highly variable across public health agencies in Ontario. This study identifies and provides strategies to address barriers and practice gaps related to public health agencies’ use of social media during emergencies.

Public Health Communication and Engagement on Social Media during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Teichmann ◽  
Aengus Bridgman ◽  
Sean Nossek ◽  
Peter John Loewen ◽  
Taylor Owen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Health Information ◽  
National Accounts ◽  
City Governments ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Cross Platform

BACKGROUND Social media provides governments the opportunity to directly communicate with their constituents. During a pandemic, reaching as many citizens as possible with health messaging is critical to reducing the spread of the disease. This study evaluates efforts to spread healthcare information by Canadian local, provincial, and federal governments during the first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study explores engagement patterns with government COVID-19 information shared on social media. It quantitatively evaluates platform-specific dynamics, including meta-data of posts such as account type, number of followers, type of content included, and time of post. It then performs exploratory, theory-building content analysis on outlier communications to identify previously under-examined features that contribute to engagement. METHODS We collect all health-related communications coming from government accounts on Facebook and Twitter and analyze the data using a nested mixed method approach. We first identify quantifiable features linked with citizen engagement. Then, we perform content analysis on those posts with the highest and highest negative residuals to identify content-specific engagement patterns. RESULTS We find considerable within and cross-platform heterogeneity in the relationship between embedded media type and engagement with public health information on social media. On Twitter, public health tweets containing videos receive 121 percent more engagements than those which are text-only, at P<.001. Images receive 35 percent more at P<.001. On Facebook text statuses dominate, with links receiving 39 percent fewer engagements, at P<.001, and videos a 26 percent decrease, also at P<.001. Even more, we find that who posts is more important than what is posted. Controlling for different audience sizes, tweets from the Prime Minister generate 727 percent more engagements than city governments', at P<.001. On Facebook this increases to 5640 percent, still at P<.001. The discrepancy between local and national accounts is larger on Facebook, where mayors, city governments, and local health authorities receive the least engagement. On both platforms premiers and provincial health authorities receive the second and third highest levels of engagement, highlighting the importance of sub-national officials in public health communication. All of these estimates are statistically significant at P<.001. In our qualitative analysis, we find a consistent relationship between content and over- or under performance, relative to our predicted levels of engagement. Concise messages with direct appeals are overrepresented among posts with large positive residuals, as are those which include high quality media, or which leverage pop-culture references or influencers. On the other hand, low quality video and infographics, lengthy policy descriptions, and negative news routinely generate fewer engagements than predicted. CONCLUSIONS We make two critical contributions to existing knowledge about government communication, particularly during public health crises. We identify and theorize cross-platform variations in strategy effectiveness and draw attention to specific, evidence-based practices that can increase engagement with government health information.

A shift from science to politics : a content analysis of COVID-19 Videos on YouTube (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chyun-Fung Shi ◽  
Matthew C So ◽  
Sophie Stelmach ◽  
Arielle Earn ◽  
David J D Earn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Conflicting Information ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic is the first pandemic where social media platforms relayed information on a large scale, enabling an “infodemic” of conflicting information which undermined the global response to the pandemic. Understanding how the information circulated and evolved on social media platforms is essential for planning future public health campaigns. OBJECTIVE This study investigated what types of themes about COVID-19 were most viewed on YouTube during the first 8 months of the pandemic, and how COVID-19 themes progressed over this period. METHODS We analyzed top-viewed YouTube COVID-19 related videos in English from from December 1, 2019 to August 16, 2020 with an open inductive content analysis. We coded 536 videos associated with 1.1 billion views across the study period. East Asian countries were the first to report the virus, while most of the top-viewed videos in English were from the US. Videos from straight news outlets dominated the top-viewed videos throughout the outbreak, and public health authorities contributed the fewest. Although straight news was the dominant COVID-19 video source with various types of themes, its viewership per video was similar to that for entertainment news and YouTubers after March. RESULTS We found, first, that collective public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic on YouTube peaked around March 2020, before the outbreak peaked, and flattened afterwards despite a spike in worldwide cases. Second, more videos focused on prevention early on, but videos with political themes increased through time. Third, regarding prevention and control measures, masking received much less attention than lockdown and social distancing in the study period. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that a transition of focus from science to politics on social media intensified the COVID-19 infodemic and may have weakened mitigation measures during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that authorities should consider co-operating with reputable social media influencers to promote health campaigns and improve health literacy. In addition, given high levels of globalization of social platforms and polarization of users, tailoring communication towards different digital communities is likely to be essential.

scholarly journals Megachurch Pastor Twitter Activity: An Analysis of Rick Warren and Andy Stanley, Two of America’s Social Pastors

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Susan Codone
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Ministry Leadership ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mega Church ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Twitter Activity ◽  
Ministry Leaders ◽  
Community Church

Mainstream church leaders have taken to Twitter as a platform for spreading their message and promoting their churches. This study examines two American mega-church pastors, Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, and Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The main objectives of this study are to analyse the Twitter activity of both pastors in an attempt to categorize their tweets according to research-based guidelines and to suggest new categories for ministry leaders who use social media. The study also tracks the Twitter activity over the life of the @rickwarren and @andystanley accounts. The study shows intriguing applications of Twitter by these two pastors and makes recommendations for those in ministry leadership who wish to use Twitter as a broadcast platform for their personal and ministry messages. Because research in ministerial use of social media is young, future studies are needed to determine if these recommendations can apply to the social media activity of other ministry leaders and to explore how ministry leaders across the religious spectrum are using social media.

scholarly journals A Content Analysis of the Contributions in the Narratives of DACA Youth

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-78
Author(s):  
Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez ◽  
Sanjuana C. Rodriguez ◽  
Banti C. V. Zehyoue
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Cultural Community ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
Use Of Social Media

This study utilized cultural community wealth (Yosso, 2005) to explore the ways in which Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) youth make use of social media. Through the use of content analysis (Hay, 2005), the authors analyzed social media interviews publicly posted by DACA youth. Findings reveal that DACA youth engage in social media as a form of activism and to mobilize their communities. The findings support and extend our understanding of the ways that DACA youth are an asset to the wider community. Implications for those working with DACA youth are provided. 

scholarly journals Public engagement and dialogic accounting through social media during COVID-19 crisis: a missed opportunity?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Landi ◽  
Antonio Costantini ◽  
Marco Fasan ◽  
Michele Bonazzi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Agencies

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate why and how public health agencies employed social media during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to foster public engagement and dialogic accounting.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed the official Facebook pages of the leading public agencies for health crisis in Italy, United Kingdom and New Zealand and they collected data on the number of posts, popularity, commitment and followers before and during the outbreak. The authors also performed a content analysis to identify the topics covered by the posts.FindingsEmpirical results suggest that social media has been extensively used as a public engagement tool in all three countries under analysis but – because of legitimacy threats and resource scarcity – it has also been used as a dialogic accounting tool only in New Zealand. Findings suggest that fake news developed more extensively in contexts where the public body did not foster dialogic accounting.Practical implicationsPublic agencies may be interested in knowing the pros and cons of using social media as a public engagement and dialogic accounting tool. They may also leverage on dialogic accounting to limit fake news.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to look at the nature and role of social media as an accountability tool during public health crises. In many contexts, COVID-19 forced for the first time public health agencies to heavily engage with the public and to develop new skills, so this study paves the way for numerous future research ideas.

scholarly journals On Using Social Media to Predict Elections. A Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent Pretty
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Campaign Strategy ◽  
Current State ◽  
Methods And Techniques ◽  
Analyze Data

As of late there's been great interest in social media’s ability to predict elections. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, owing to their cultural ubiquity, offer a plethora of data and an opportunity to track public perception at a granular level in real time. The ability to passively analyze public opinion is a massive step forward in the realm of political prediction, and has the potential to redefine the field of campaign strategy. In this piece of research I analyzed the current state of social media based electoral prediction. I examined the methods and techniques used to collect and analyze data, and compared their results against both each other and other methods of prediction such as telephone polling. In this I found a field that is still in its infancy. Much work remains to be done until a set of best practices surrounding social media based electoral prediction are accumulated.

Sharing tourism experiences in social media

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marios D. Sotiriadis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Research Themes ◽  
Consumer Perspective ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to perform a synthesis of academic research published between 2009 and 2016 regarding the changes in tourism consumer behavior brought about by the use of social media (SM); and to suggest a set of strategies for tourism businesses to seize opportunities and deal with resulting challenges. Design/methodology/approach A volume of 146 peer-reviewed journal articles were retrieved from two major databases. Content analysis of this academic research has been performed, exploring the effects of online reviews on tourism consumers and providers. Findings The content analysis identified three main research themes that were investigated by scholars and classified into two major categories, namely, consumer perspective and provider perspective: the antecedents (factors motivating and influencing tourists); the influence of online reviews on consumer behaviour; and the impact of these reviews on tourism businesses (providers’ perspective). Research limitations/implications This study is based on a literature review and outcomes reported by previous studies; hence, the suggestions are indicative rather than conclusive. Some publication sources were not included. Practical implications This paper suggests a range of adequate strategies, along with operational actions, formulated for industry practitioners in the fields of management and marketing. Originality/value It provides an update of the state of published academic research into SM and an integrated set of management and marketing strategies for tourism providers in seizing the opportunities and dealing with the challenges raised in a digital context.

When news media and social media meet: How Facebook users reacted to news stories about a supermarket plastic bag ban

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482095668
Author(s):  
Kim Borg ◽  
Jo Lindsay ◽  
Jim Curtis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Real Time ◽  
News Media ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Plastic Bag ◽  
Contemporary Media

Plastic reduction policies are important for addressing plastic pollution however, the success of such policies relies on establishing new social norms. This study advances knowledge on public expressions of social norms by exploring the interplay between news media and social media in response to a new environmental policy. It is the first study to explore this phenomenon with the explicit aim of identifying and comparing information related to social norms. A content analysis was conducted in relation to the 2018 Australian supermarket plastic bag ban. Results demonstrate how social norms related to a new policy are created, reinforced and expressed in the contemporary media landscape. The interaction between news media and social media offers a window into public expressions of social norms, where social media provides a platform for civic participation in a public and real-time environment in which users can challenge the dominant narrative presented by the news media.

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