Who Said What: A Multi-Country Content Analysis of European Health Organisations’ COVID-19 Social Media Communication

Abstract

Objectives: As a risk communication tool, social media was mobilised at an unprecedented level during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined health authorities’ risk communication on social media in response to the pandemic in 2020.Methods: We analysed 1,633 COVID-19-related posts from 15 social media accounts managed by official health authorities in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.Results: The rate at which the authorities posted about COVID-19 on social media fluctuated throughout 2020. Each account’s posting frequency peaked between March and May 2020, before dropping considerably during the summer. The messages that the organisations focused on also varied throughout the year but covered most risk communication guidelines. Yet, our analysis highlighted themes that were communicated infrequently, such as long COVID or exercising during the pandemic.Conclusion: With more individuals now following health authorities on social media, platforms such as Instagram hold great potential for future risk communication campaigns and strategies.

Public agencies tweeting the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-country comparison of must have and forgotten communication topics

“…In line with previous findings (e.g., Kompani et al, 2022), this study indicates that Twitter communication is, in some cases, used for different purposes than other social media platforms. It suggests that health agencies used their tweets to disseminate general information on COVID-19 virus characteristics and on the re-opening of business activities after the lockdown.…”

“…However, after the rolling of COVID-19 vaccination began, many posts were dedicated to this theme. Kompani et al's (2022) study demonstrated that messages' contents during a pandemic can vary depending on the stages of the pandemic.…”

“…As the time progressed, new COVID-19 topics emerged, such as attention to its economic and mental health impacts. More recently, Kompani et al (2022) analyzed 1,633 COVID-19-related from health authorities in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K. through different pandemic stages (e.g., pre-pandemic, first lockdown, post-lockdowns, return of restrictions). The authors noticed that themes like long COVID-19 or exercising were communicated infrequently across all the nations during the pandemic.…”

Editorial. Understanding COVID-19 Communication: Linguistic and Discursive Perspectives

“…After a quick response to the emergency, with the promulgation of safety regulations internally and across borders, sanitary protocolsfrom lockdown to using hand sanitisers and wearing a face mask on public transport and in storeswere adopted to mitigate the impact on overloaded healthcare systems. Besides the implementation of safety measures to reduce health risks and fines in case of violations, efforts were made by local health authorities to elaborate and share warnings, instructions and advice all-round in an accessible way (Jucks and Hendriks 2021; Smith and Kabele 2021; Kompani et al 2022). However, institutional communication often stumbled against the perceived lack of clarity or unexpected emotional reactions from citizens.…”

Exploring the reception of global health campaigns at a local level: a study of the WHO #SafeHands handwashing social media campaign for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Twitter.

“…There are now many new opportunities for users to gather information on health-related topics on social media platforms. There has been an influx of social media users following health authorities' social media pages, and this has presented a good opportunity for health communication campaigns (Kompani et al, 2022). Numerous studies have highlighted the success and potential of social media platforms for health communication campaigns.…”