Investigating the Role and Potential Impact of Social Media on Mobility Behavior

Karatsoli, Maria; Nathanail, Eftihia

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-02305-8_31

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…With reference to Karatsoli and Nathanail, social media has a broad impact on people's choices concerning a place or activity; the mobility decisions of almost all groups of travelers are affected by negative content in social media (14). Therefore, travel behavior, social media usage, and the ratio of negative emotional tweets are utilized as observation indicators to verify the hypotheses (H) of the research questions (RQ), proposed as: RQ1: Are social media and travel behavior correlated during the COVID-19?…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Web2.0 environment, collective emotions on social media are demonstrated to affect both mobility behaviors and transport policies profoundly (12)(13)(14)(15). During the pandemic, when people were self-isolated and working from home, social media became a critical source of information and news related to the COVID-19, as well as a platform in enhancing virtual conversations in a global society (16).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Social Media on Travel Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from New York City

Özbay

Zuo

et al. 2021

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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During the outbreak of COVID-19, people’s reliance on social media for pandemic-related information exchange, daily communications, and online professional interactions increased because of self-isolation and lockdown implementation. Most of the published research addresses the performance of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and measures on the issues impacted by COVID-19, such as health, education, and public safety; however, not much is known about the interplay between social media use and travel behaviors. This study aims to determine the effect of social media on human mobility before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, and its impact on personal vehicle and public transit use in New York City (NYC). Apple mobility trends and Twitter data are used as two data sources. The results indicate that Twitter volume and mobility trend correlations are negative for both driving and transit categories in general, especially at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in NYC. A significant time lag (13 days) between the online communication rise and mobility drop can be observed, thereby providing evidence of social networks taking quicker reactions to the pandemic than the transportation system. In addition, social media and government policies had different impacts on vehicular traffic and public transit ridership during the pandemic with varied performance. This study provides insights on the complex influence of both anti-pandemic measures and user-generated content, namely social media, on people’s travel decisions during pandemics. The empirical evidence can help decision-makers formulate timely emergency responses, prepare targeted traffic intervention policies, and conduct risk management in similar outbreaks in the future.

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Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%