Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.

Microblog has become the "first scenario" under which the public learn about the epidemic situation and express their opinions. Public sentiment mining based on microblog data can provide a reference for the government's information disclosure, public sentiment guidance and formulatio...

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Main Authors: Sijia Zhao, Lixuan Chen, Ying Liu, Muran Yu, Han Han
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270953
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author Sijia Zhao
Lixuan Chen
Ying Liu
Muran Yu
Han Han
author_facet Sijia Zhao
Lixuan Chen
Ying Liu
Muran Yu
Han Han
author_sort Sijia Zhao
collection DOAJ
description Microblog has become the "first scenario" under which the public learn about the epidemic situation and express their opinions. Public sentiment mining based on microblog data can provide a reference for the government's information disclosure, public sentiment guidance and formulation of epidemic prevention and control policy. In this paper, about 200,000 pieces of text data were collected from Jan. 1 to Feb. 26, 2020 from Sina Weibo, which is the most popular microblog website in China. And a public sentiment analysis framework suitable for Chinese-language scenarios was proposed. In this framework, a sentiment dictionary suitable for Chinese-language scenarios was constructed, and Baidu's Sentiment Analysis API was used to calculate the public sentiment indexes. Then, an analysis on the correlation between the public sentiment indexes and the COVID-19 case indicators was made. It was discovered that there is a high correlation between public sentiments and incidence trends, in which negative sentiment is of statistical significance for the prediction of epidemic development. To further explore the source of public negative sentiment, the topics of the public negative sentiment on Weibo was analyzed, and 20 topics in five categories were got. It is found that there is a strong linkage between the hot spots of public concern and the epidemic prevention and control policies. If the policies cover the hot spots of public concern in a timely and effective manner, the public negative sentiment will be effectively alleviated. The analytical framework proposed in this paper also applies to the public sentiment analysis and policy making for other major public events.
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spelling doaj.art-2ce9e1b8edf847798b214607b69f0dbb2022-12-22T03:08:00ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01178e027095310.1371/journal.pone.0270953Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.Sijia ZhaoLixuan ChenYing LiuMuran YuHan HanMicroblog has become the "first scenario" under which the public learn about the epidemic situation and express their opinions. Public sentiment mining based on microblog data can provide a reference for the government's information disclosure, public sentiment guidance and formulation of epidemic prevention and control policy. In this paper, about 200,000 pieces of text data were collected from Jan. 1 to Feb. 26, 2020 from Sina Weibo, which is the most popular microblog website in China. And a public sentiment analysis framework suitable for Chinese-language scenarios was proposed. In this framework, a sentiment dictionary suitable for Chinese-language scenarios was constructed, and Baidu's Sentiment Analysis API was used to calculate the public sentiment indexes. Then, an analysis on the correlation between the public sentiment indexes and the COVID-19 case indicators was made. It was discovered that there is a high correlation between public sentiments and incidence trends, in which negative sentiment is of statistical significance for the prediction of epidemic development. To further explore the source of public negative sentiment, the topics of the public negative sentiment on Weibo was analyzed, and 20 topics in five categories were got. It is found that there is a strong linkage between the hot spots of public concern and the epidemic prevention and control policies. If the policies cover the hot spots of public concern in a timely and effective manner, the public negative sentiment will be effectively alleviated. The analytical framework proposed in this paper also applies to the public sentiment analysis and policy making for other major public events.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270953
spellingShingle Sijia Zhao
Lixuan Chen
Ying Liu
Muran Yu
Han Han
Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.
PLoS ONE
title Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.
title_full Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.
title_fullStr Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.
title_full_unstemmed Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.
title_short Deriving anti-epidemic policy from public sentiment: A framework based on text analysis with microblog data.
title_sort deriving anti epidemic policy from public sentiment a framework based on text analysis with microblog data
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270953
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