What people share about the COVID-19 outbreak on Twitter? An exploratory analysis

Karmegam, Dhivya; Mapillairaju, Bagavandas

doi:10.1136/bmjhci-2020-100133

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In the aftermath of the Japan earthquake in 2011, the crisis communication and leadership of the government were neither clear nor apparent on Twitter [ 34 ]. Thus, crisis communication by authorities is seen as fundamental during COVID-19 [ 35 ] and authorities publish a disproportionally large number of scientifically correct tweets [ 36 ]. Previous studies have also shown that during COVID-19, tweets published by authorities are rarely among the most successful tweets [ 37 , 38 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

Drescher¹,

Roosen²,

Aue³

et al. 2021

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic led to the necessity of immediate crisis communication by public health authorities. In Germany, as in many other countries, people choose social media, including Twitter, to obtain real-time information and understanding of the pandemic and its consequences. Next to authorities, experts such as virologists and science communicators were very prominent at the beginning of German Twitter COVID-19 crisis communication. Objective The aim of this study was to detect similarities and differences between public authorities and individual experts in COVID-19 crisis communication on Twitter during the first year of the pandemic. Methods Descriptive analysis and quantitative content analysis were carried out on 8251 original tweets posted from January 1, 2020, to January 15, 2021. COVID-19–related tweets of 21 authorities and 18 experts were categorized into structural, content, and style components. Negative binomial regressions were performed to evaluate tweet spread measured by the retweet and like counts of COVID-19–related tweets. Results Descriptive statistics revealed that authorities and experts increasingly tweeted about COVID-19 over the period under study. Two experts and one authority were responsible for 70.26% (544,418/774,865) of all retweets, thus representing COVID-19 influencers. Altogether, COVID-19 tweets by experts reached a 7-fold higher rate of retweeting (t8,249=26.94, P<.001) and 13.9 times the like rate (t8,249=31.27, P<.001) compared with those of authorities. Tweets by authorities were much more designed than those by experts, with more structural and content components; for example, 91.99% (4997/5432) of tweets by authorities used hashtags in contrast to only 19.01% (536/2819) of experts’ COVID-19 tweets. Multivariate analysis revealed that such structural elements reduce the spread of the tweets, and the incidence rate of retweets for authorities’ tweets using hashtags was approximately 0.64 that of tweets without hashtags (Z=–6.92, P<.001). For experts, the effect of hashtags on retweets was insignificant (Z=1.56, P=.12). Conclusions Twitter data are a powerful information source and suitable for crisis communication in Germany. COVID-19 tweet activity mirrors the development of COVID-19 cases in Germany. Twitter users retweet and like communications regarding COVID-19 by experts more than those delivered by authorities. Tweets have higher coverage for both authorities and experts when they are plain and for authorities when they directly address people. For authorities, it appears that it was difficult to win recognition during COVID-19. For all stakeholders studied, the association between number of followers and number of retweets was highly significantly positive (authorities Z=28.74, P<.001; experts Z=25.99, P<.001). Updated standards might be required for successful crisis communication by authorities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

Drescher¹,

Roosen²,

Aue³

et al. 2021

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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“…There was some sarcasm in the negative attitudes (n=34, 3.3%) but no dark humor or personal attacks, which has been found in some other Twitter studies. This shows that the debate was generally conducted in a professional fashion, contrary to many politicized social media discussions [ 28 , 55 , 56 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Use of the Hashtag #DataSavesLives on Twitter: Exploratory and Thematic Analysis

Teodorowski¹,

Rodgers²,

Fleming³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

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Background “Data Saves Lives” is a public engagement campaign that highlights the benefits of big data research and aims to establish public trust for this emerging research area. Objective This study explores how the hashtag #DataSavesLives is used on Twitter. We focused on the period when the UK government and its agencies adopted #DataSavesLives in an attempt to support their plans to set up a new database holding National Health Service (NHS) users’ medical data. Methods Public tweets published between April 19 and July 15, 2021, using the hashtag #DataSavesLives were saved using NCapture for NVivo 12. All tweets were coded twice. First, each tweet was assigned a positive, neutral, or negative attitude toward the campaign. Second, inductive thematic analysis was conducted. The results of the thematic analysis were mapped under 3 models of public engagement: deficit, dialogue, and participatory. Results Of 1026 unique tweets available for qualitative analysis, discussion around #DataSavesLives was largely positive (n=716, 69.8%) or neutral (n=276, 26.9%) toward the campaign with limited negative attitudes (n=34, 3.3%). Themes derived from the #DataSavesLives debate included ethical sharing, proactively engaging the public, coproducing knowledge with the public, harnessing potential, and gaining an understanding of big data research. The Twitter discourse was largely positive toward the campaign. The hashtag is predominantly used by similar-minded Twitter users to share information about big data projects and to spread positive messages about big data research when there are public controversies. The hashtag is generally used by organizations and people supportive of big data research. Tweet authors recognize that the public should be proactively engaged and involved in big data projects. The campaign remains UK centric. The results indicate that the communication around big data research is driven by the professional community and remains 1-way as members of the public rarely use the hashtag. Conclusions The results demonstrate the potential of social media but draws attention to hashtag usage being generally confined to “Twitter bubbles”: groups of similar-minded Twitter users.

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“…Essas transformações consideram a explosão de tecnologias de informação em um cenário em que desponta a saúde digital, que fortalece a participação do indivíduo na construção do cuidado em saúde através da internet, sendo as redes sociais um potente espaço de empoderamento. Além da sua potencialidade, destaca-se a possibilidade do acesso às informações, sendo campo de interesse dos sistemas de saúde, tendo feito parte da estratégia de apoio dos vários países com maior controle do COVID-19, inclusive no levantamento de dados epidemiológicos e no monitoramento de casos da doença 17 . Visão esta corroborada por outros autores, como Lima 18 e Cancela 19 , que reforçam não somente o potencial das tecnologias de informação e comunicação diante da sua capacidade de alcance e celeridade na transmissão de informações, o que fez com que elas despontassem como uma das mais utilizadas atualmente, mas também como alvo das principais adaptações e inovações nos meios de comunicação e educação.…”

Section: A Potencialidade Na Divulgação E Acesso à Informaçãounclassified

“…Esses comportamentos foram influenciados pela gama de informações compartilhadas de pessoas doentes, insuficiência dos serviços de saúde, número de infectados e mortalidade, que geram ansiedade, pânico e inquietação nos indivíduos. Além disso, destacou-se que o formato das publicações também interfere no alcance e velocidade da propagação da informação, sugerindo-se a criação de conteúdos práticos e com mensagens curtas e diretas, aproveitando-se de ilustrações 17 .…”

Section: As Plataformas Digitais E Suas Dimensõesunclassified

“…Dessa forma, a fim de reduzir o sofrimento das pessoas diante das desinformações disponívieis, um estudo propôs a divulgação ampla de informações em redes sociais por fontes oficiais, pesquisadores e profissionais de saúde. Com informações de qualidade disponívies, não haverá, ou pelo menos, será reduzido, o espaço nas redes sociais para as desinformações 17 . Visão esta confirmada em outros estudos que também reforçam a responsabilidade social das instituições oficiais e universidades no combate às fake news, divulgando informações científicas e mitigando o crescimento da desinformação 31 .…”

Section: As Plataformas Digitais E Suas Dimensõesunclassified

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Avanços e desafios da comunicação digital em saúde na era da pandemia

Abreu

Carvalho

2022

Revista de APS

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Introdução: a pandemia do COVID-19 provocou mudanças importantes no uso das tecnologias e da comunicação digital. É necessário compreendermos melhor as práticas de enfrentamento da pandemia pela população através da apropriação de informações veiculadas pelas mídias sociais. Espera-se que este trabalho auxilie na formulação de estratégias de educação em saúde na ESF. O objetivo deste artigo é identificar o uso e as possibilidades de comunicação digital em saúde no contexto da pandemia. Método: trata-se de uma revisão integrativa norteada pela pergunta: “Como tem se dado o uso da comunicação digital em saúde diante do contexto da pandemia do COVID-19? ”. A busca bibliográfica foi realizada nas bases SCOPUS, Scielo e BVS, utilizando os descritores: Comunicação em saúde, Disseminação da informação e COVID-19. Resultados: foram selecionados 16 artigos que, depois de análise dos estudos de Bardin, suscitaram três categorias: A potencialidade na divulgação e no acesso à informação; Plataformas digitais e suas dimensões; e Fake News e Infodemia - os transtornos diante da desinformação digital. Conclusões: o impacto das informações em saúde produzidos nas mídias digitais durante a pandemia aponta para uma transformação nos processos de educação em saúde e de relacionamento com a informação na era digital.

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What people share about the COVID-19 outbreak on Twitter? An exploratory analysis

Cited by 9 publications

References 38 publications

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

Use of the Hashtag #DataSavesLives on Twitter: Exploratory and Thematic Analysis

Avanços e desafios da comunicação digital em saúde na era da pandemia

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