The use of Twitter by state leaders and its impact on the public during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The article examines how many leaders used Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic, in what way, and the impact they had on the public. In the context of Twitter, the impact on the public refers to the growth in followers as it signifies the increased interest of the public about information. 50,872 tweets were collected from 143 state leaders and an original dataset was created containing information on the growth of followers. Ordinary least squares regression models were used for the analysis. It was found that 64.8% of UN member states had a leader that tweeted about COVID-19. Furthermore, a significant increase in the number of followers during the pandemic compared to months prior was noted. Since March, the pandemic has been a dominant topic on Twitter. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest percentage increase in gaining Twitter followers was experienced by politicians who frequently tweeted and those who had a lower ratio of the number of followers to internet users. The research implies that citizens are interested in being informed about emergencies through social networks, and government officials should use them.

Tripartite Evolutionary Game Analysis for Rumor Spreading on Weibo Based on MA-PT

“…12 (b) and Fig. 12 (c), when 3 40 R  and 3 70 R  , it can be clearly observed that U gradually converges to 1. This means that Weibo users tend to blindly forward misleading information and rumors in order to keep pace with popular events.…”

“…When analyzing the influence of Weibo information on public behavior, researchers believe that Weibo is an important channel for netizens to obtain information, and the information transmitted through Weibo can even change the political landscape. Thus, they point out that the government should attach importance to the role of Weibo [40][41][42]. Priya et al pointed out that Weibo is a better choice for studying the evolution of events.…”

Social media and public perception as core aspect of public health: The cautionary case of @realdonaldtrump and COVID-19

“…The report lays out a number of specific executive and legislative actions to remediate such harms, but does not address social media. We, along with many others [9][10][11][12][13][14], suggest adding increased analytic and scientific attention to social media as a platform, and process, for the structuring of public health outcomes. We recognize that the data set provided here is only correlational, but given the numerous research findings regarding the use of social media by Donald Trump, and his administration's well documented negative impact on public health [17], we argue that our data and analyses offer support to the assertion of a substantive influence of @realdonaldtrump in negatively shaping public health perceptions and thus outcomes.…”

“…There is widespread agreement that due to its influence, extensive use and the frequency and ease of access by the general public, social media can and should be used for beneficial dissemination of public health information, especially in the context of the COVID19 pandemic [ 8 , 9 ]. There is also evidence that world leaders’ social media use, especially Twitter, has been substantive and influential during the COVID19 pandemic [ 10 ]. As Rufai and Bunce [ 11 ] note “Twitter may represent a powerful tool for world leaders to rapidly communicate public health information with citizens.” However, they urge “general caution when using Twitter for health information” with a “preference for tweets containing official government-based information sources.”…”

The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse

“…Various social network platforms were used to inform people in real-time about the status of the pandemic and government measures, including new restrictions. Government organizations, public health institutions, and world leaders used social media as a primary means of communication to keep the public updated during the pandemic ( 2 , 3 ).…”