When Information from Public Health Officials is Untrustworthy: The Use of Online News, Interpersonal Networks, and Social Media during the MERS Outbreak in South Korea

Abstract

Public health officials (PHOs) are responsible for providing trustworthy information during a public health crisis; however, there is little research on how the public behaves when their expectations for such information are violated. Drawing on media dependency theory and source credibility research as our primary theoretical framework, we tested how credibility of information from PHOs is associated with people's reliance on a particular communication channel in the context of the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea. Using nationally representative data (N = 1036) collected during the MERS outbreak, we found that less credible information from PHOs led to more frequent use of online news, interpersonal networks, and social media for acquiring MERS-related information. However, credibility of information from PHOs was not associated with the use of television news or print newspapers. The theoretical and practical implications of our results on communication channels usage are discussed.

The Effects of Social Media Use on Preventive Behaviors during Infectious Disease Outbreaks: The Mediating Role of Self-relevant Emotions and Public Risk Perception

“…The government was accused of being insufficiently trustworthy in communicating with the public and was denounced as slow and inappropriate in its provision of accurate information about the disease. Because the government withheld necessary information, the public did seek and share MERS-related information primarily via social media (Jang & Paek, 2019). According to a survey conducted during the outbreak (Kim & Yang, 2015), 71.5% of respondents reported having obtained MERS-related information primarily via social media.…”

“…During recent infectious disease outbreaks, social media networking sites (hereafter social media) have functioned as firsthand information channels from which the public can obtain disease-related information and exchange it with their family, friends, and neighbors in real time (Jang & Paek, 2019). For example, Ding and Zhang (2010) found that the outbreak of the H1N1 flu was first reported via social media.…”

“…For this reason, government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have started to use social media to inform the public of emerging infectious diseases such as the Zika and Ebola outbreaks (Chan et al, 2018;Lazard, Scheinfeld, Bernhardt, Wilcox, & Suran, 2015). Particularly when traditional media do not provide relevant, timely information for the public, social media serve as a major, immediate information source (Jang & Paek, 2019;Yoo, Chio, & Park, 2016).…”

How Risk Communication via Facebook and Twitter Shapes Behavioral Intentions: The Case of Fine Dust Pollution in South Korea

“…When a natural disaster or public health emergency occurs, social networking sites (SNSs) provide an effective channel for delivering emergency information to diverse audiences and organizational and private stakeholders, thus facilitating the exchange of information (Strekalova & Krieger, 2017). For this reason, SNSs have emerged as the communication channels and information sources most frequently used in risk and crisis situations (Jang & Baek, 2019;Park, 2018). Furthermore, risk communication via SNSs has been influential in shaping risk perceptions and behavioral intentions to respond to risk events (Choi, Yoo, Noh, & Park, 2017;Song, Song, Seo, Jin, & Kim, 2017;Yoo, Choi, & Park, 2016).…”

A graph-based approach for population health analysis using Geo-tagged tweets

“…Most recently, social media has been integrated to support managing the COVID-19 pandemic in both preparedness and emergency response [32]. As shown in [27], in difficult situations, e.g., during the MERS outbreak in South Korea where the information from public health officials was untrustworthy, social media could be considered as an alternative source.…”