The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse
During the COVID-19 pandemic, information is being rapidly shared by public health experts and researchers through social media platforms. Whilst government policies were disseminated and discussed, fake news and misinformation simultaneously created a corresponding wave of “infodemics.” This study...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.716333/full |
| _version_ | 1819067774263099392 |
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| author | Lan Li Aisha Aldosery Fedor Vitiugin Naomi Nathan David Novillo-Ortiz Carlos Castillo Patty Kostkova |
| author_facet | Lan Li Aisha Aldosery Fedor Vitiugin Naomi Nathan David Novillo-Ortiz Carlos Castillo Patty Kostkova |
| author_sort | Lan Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During the COVID-19 pandemic, information is being rapidly shared by public health experts and researchers through social media platforms. Whilst government policies were disseminated and discussed, fake news and misinformation simultaneously created a corresponding wave of “infodemics.” This study analyzed the discourse on Twitter in several languages, investigating the reactions to government and public health agency social media accounts that share policy decisions and official messages. The study collected messages from 21 official Twitter accounts of governments and public health authorities in the UK, US, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Spain, and Nigeria, from 15 March to 29 May 2020. Over 2 million tweets in various languages were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach to understand the messages both quantitatively and qualitatively. Using automatic, text-based clustering, five topics were identified for each account and then categorized into 10 emerging themes. Identified themes include political, socio-economic, and population-protection issues, encompassing global, national, and individual levels. A comparison was performed amongst the seven countries analyzed and the United Kingdom (Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England) to find similarities and differences between countries and government agencies. Despite the difference in language, country of origin, epidemiological contexts within the countries, significant similarities emerged. Our results suggest that other than general announcement and reportage messages, the most-discussed topic is evidence-based leadership and policymaking, followed by how to manage socio-economic consequences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T16:23:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4c952d3e15cd446c8715e25fa4dc82f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T16:23:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-4c952d3e15cd446c8715e25fa4dc82f92022-12-21T18:57:31ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652021-09-01910.3389/fpubh.2021.716333716333The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter DiscourseLan Li0Aisha Aldosery1Fedor Vitiugin2Naomi Nathan3David Novillo-Ortiz4Carlos Castillo5Patty Kostkova6Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE), Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, London, United KingdomCentre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE), Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, SpainInstitute of Public Health (Alumna), Jagiellonian University, Kraków, PolandCentre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE), Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, SpainCentre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE), Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, London, United KingdomDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, information is being rapidly shared by public health experts and researchers through social media platforms. Whilst government policies were disseminated and discussed, fake news and misinformation simultaneously created a corresponding wave of “infodemics.” This study analyzed the discourse on Twitter in several languages, investigating the reactions to government and public health agency social media accounts that share policy decisions and official messages. The study collected messages from 21 official Twitter accounts of governments and public health authorities in the UK, US, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Spain, and Nigeria, from 15 March to 29 May 2020. Over 2 million tweets in various languages were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach to understand the messages both quantitatively and qualitatively. Using automatic, text-based clustering, five topics were identified for each account and then categorized into 10 emerging themes. Identified themes include political, socio-economic, and population-protection issues, encompassing global, national, and individual levels. A comparison was performed amongst the seven countries analyzed and the United Kingdom (Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England) to find similarities and differences between countries and government agencies. Despite the difference in language, country of origin, epidemiological contexts within the countries, significant similarities emerged. Our results suggest that other than general announcement and reportage messages, the most-discussed topic is evidence-based leadership and policymaking, followed by how to manage socio-economic consequences.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.716333/fullsocial mediaTwitterCOVID-19topic modelinggovernmentpublic health agencies |
| spellingShingle | Lan Li Aisha Aldosery Fedor Vitiugin Naomi Nathan David Novillo-Ortiz Carlos Castillo Patty Kostkova The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse Frontiers in Public Health social media COVID-19 topic modeling government public health agencies |
| title | The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse |
| title_full | The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse |
| title_fullStr | The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse |
| title_short | The Response of Governments and Public Health Agencies to COVID-19 Pandemics on Social Media: A Multi-Country Analysis of Twitter Discourse |
| title_sort | response of governments and public health agencies to covid 19 pandemics on social media a multi country analysis of twitter discourse |
| topic | social media COVID-19 topic modeling government public health agencies |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.716333/full |
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