Uses of social media in government agencies: Content analyses of public relations strategies and message tactics comparison between South Korea and the United States of America in 2011 and 2014

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. e1687
Author(s):  
Moon J. Lee ◽  
Hajin Cho
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
South Korea ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Content Analyses

Evolution of public sentiments during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case comparisons of India, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Oo Lwin ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
Jiahui Lu ◽  
Peter Johannes Schulz ◽  
Wonsun Shin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Communication Space

BACKGROUND Public sentiments are an important indicator of crisis response, with the need to balance exigency without adding to panic or projecting overconfidence. Given the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, governments have enacted various nationwide measures against the disease with social media platforms providing the previously unparalleled communication space for the global populations. OBJECTIVE This study aims to examine and provide a macro-level narrative of the evolution of public sentiments on social media at national levels, by comparing Twitter data from India, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States during the current pandemic. METHODS Over 67,363,091 million Twitter posts on COVID-19 from 28 January 2020 to 28 April 2021 were analyzed from the five countries with "wuhan", "corona", "nCov", and "covid" as search keywords. Change in sentiments ("very negative", " negative", "neutral or mixed", "positive”, “very positive”) were compared between countries in connection with disease milestones and public health directives. RESULTS Country-specific assessments show that negative sentiments were predominant across all five countries during the initial period of the global pandemic. However, positive sentiments encompassing hope, resilience, and support arose at differing intensities across the five countries, particularly in Asian countries. In the next stage of the pandemic, India, Singapore, and South Korea faced escalating waves of COVID-19 cases, resulting in negative sentiments, but positive sentiments appeared simultaneously. In contrast, while UK and US negative sentiments increased sharply and dramatically after the declaration of a national public emergency, strong parallel positive sentiments were slow to surface. CONCLUSIONS Our findings on sentiments across countries facing similar outbreak concerns suggest potential associations between government response actions both in terms of policy and communications, and public sentiment trends. Overall, a more concerted approach of government crisis communication appears to be associated with more stable public sentiments balanced between positives and negatives over the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Threat, Coping, and Social Distance Adherence During COVID-19: Cross-Continental Comparison Using an Online Cross-Sectional Survey

10.2196/23019 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. e23019
Author(s):  
Abrar Al-Hasan ◽  
Jiban Khuntia ◽  
Dobin Yim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Information Source ◽  
The United States ◽  
Seemingly Unrelated Regression ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Unrelated Regression ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Appraisal Processes

Background Social distancing is an effective preventative policy for COVID-19 that is enforced by governments worldwide. However, significant variations are observed in adherence to social distancing across individuals and countries. Due to the lack of treatment, rapid spread, and prevalence of COVID-19, panic and fear associated with the disease causes great stress. Subsequent effects will be a variation around the coping and mitigation strategies for different individuals following different paths to manage the situation. Objective This study aims to explore how threat and coping appraisal processes work as mechanisms between information and citizens’ adherence to COVID-19–related recommendations (ie, how the information sources and social media influence threat and coping appraisal processes with COVID-19 and how the threat and coping appraisal processes influence adherence to policy guidelines). In addition, this study aims to explore how citizens in three different countries (the United States, Kuwait, and South Korea), randomly sampled, are effectively using the mechanisms. Methods Randomly sampled online survey data collected by a global firm in May 2020 from 162 citizens of the United States, 185 of Kuwait, and 71 of South Korea were analyzed, resulting in a total sample size of 418. A seemingly unrelated regression model, controlling for several counterfactuals, was used for analysis. The study’s focal estimated effects were compared across the three countries using the weighted distance between the parameter estimates. Results The seemingly unrelated regression model estimation results suggested that, overall, the intensity of information source use for the COVID-19 pandemic positively influenced the threat appraisal for the disease (P<.001). Furthermore, the intensity of social media use for the COVID-19 pandemic positively influenced the coping appraisal for the disease (P<.001). Higher COVID-19 threat appraisal had a positive effect on social distancing adherence (P<.001). Higher COVID-19 coping appraisal had a positive effect on social distancing adherence (P<.001). Higher intensity of COVID-19 knowledge positively influenced social distancing adherence (P<.001). There were country-level variations. Broadly, we found that the United States had better results than South Korea and Kuwait in leveraging the information to threat and coping appraisal to the adherence process, indicating that individuals in countries like the United States and South Korea may be more pragmatic to appraise the situation before making any decisions. Conclusions This study’s findings suggest that the mediation of threat and coping strategies are essential, in varying effects, to shape the information and social media strategies for adherence outcomes. Accordingly, coordinating public service announcements along with information source outlets such as mainstream media (eg, TV and newspaper) as well as social media (eg, Facebook and Twitter) to inform citizens and, at the same time, deliver balanced messages about the threat and coping appraisal is critical in implementing a staggered social distancing and sheltering strategy.

scholarly journals The Estimated Time-Varying Reproduction Numbers during the Ongoing Pandemic of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 12 Selected Countries outside China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fu-Chang Hu
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South Korea ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Estimation Method ◽  
The United States ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
Almost All

Background: How can we anticipate the progression of the ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? As a measure of transmissibility, we aimed to estimate concurrently the time-varying reproduction number, R0(t), over time during the COVID-19 pandemic for each of the following 12 heavily-attacked countries: Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, the United States of America, and South Africa. Methods: We downloaded the publicly available COVID-19 pandemic data from the WHO COVID-19 Dashboard website (https://covid19.who.int/) for the duration of January 11, 2020 and May 1, 2020. Then, we specified two plausible distributions of serial interval to apply the novel estimation method implemented in the incidence and EpiEstim packages to the data of daily new confirmed cases for robustly estimating R0(t) in the R software. Results: We plotted the epidemic curves of daily new confirmed cases for the 12 selected countries. A clear peak of the epidemic curve appeared in 10 of the 12 selected countries at various time points, and then the epidemic curve declined gradually. However, the United States of America and South Africa happened to have two or more peaks and their epidemic curves either reached a plateau or still climbed up. Almost all curves of the estimated R0(t) monotonically went down to be less than or close to 1.0 up to April 30, 2020 except Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Iran, and South Africa, of which the curves surprisingly went up and down at various time periods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the United States of America and South Africa were the two countries with the approximate R0(t) ≥ 1.0 at the end of April, and thus they were now facing the harshest battles against the coronavirus among the 12 selected countries. By contrast, Spain, Germany, and France with smaller values of the estimated R0(t) were relatively better than the other 9 countries. Conclusion: Seeing the estimated R0(t) going downhill speedily is more informative than looking for the drops in the daily number of new confirmed cases during an ongoing epidemic of infectious disease. We urge public health authorities and scientists to estimate R0(t) routinely during an epidemic of infectious disease and to report R0(t) daily to the public until the end of the epidemic.

Some concepts for range assessment in Australia.

1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
GM Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Range Management ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Firm Basis ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Basic Prerequisite

From recent discussions with rangeland administrators in the arid parts of the United States of America it is apparent that current Australian thinking on the philosophy of range assessment is very close to that in the United States. Formal range assessment and management in Australia is a very young science compared to that in the United States. Although we lack the 50 or so years' experience of organized range management teaching and research the true gap is much less. In the field of range inventory, it appeared that Australian expertise and progress was at least equal to that in the United States. As range inventory is a basic prerequisite to range assessment and application of management manipulations on rangelands, Australia already has a firm basis for future work in this field. Some concepts on range assessment are outlined and an approach to range assessment is suggested. It is to be hoped that one general approach to range assessment can be adopted in Australia and that we can avoid the problems which occur in the United States when different Government agencies use different assessment methods.

scholarly journals Twitter Discourse Analysis of US President Donald Trump

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Tanase Tasente
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Heads Of State

Twitter has become a very powerful channel of political communication in recent years, many times overtaking, along with Facebook, traditional channels of mass communication, such as: TV, radio or newspapers. More then 500 million tweets are sent every day (5,787 tweets every second), and 326 million people use Twitter every month, even if there are 1.3 billion Twitter accounts. From the perspective of political communication, Twitter is ahead of Facebook, according to a study conducted in 2018 by Twiplomacy, which shows that 187 governments and heads of state maintain an official presence on Twitter. This mechanism of mass communication has benefited the politicians, especially those in the United States of America, who have generated a unique phenomenon in political communication: creating a map on polarization in the online environment.. This study focused on analyzing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that facilitate Twitter Communication of Donald Trump, the President of United States of America (number of followers, types of tweets, engagement rate and interaction rate etc.) and analyzing Donald Trump's Twitter speech and identify the most commonly used expressions in Social Media during the term of President.  The monitoring period is 22.01.2019 - 16.08.2019.

scholarly journals Citizens’ Adherence to COVID-19 Mitigation Recommendations by the Government: A 3-Country Comparative Evaluation Using Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey Data

10.2196/20634 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. e20634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abrar Al-Hasan ◽  
Dobin Yim ◽  
Jiban Khuntia
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Comparative Evaluation ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ordered Probit ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Government

Background Social distancing is an effective preventative policy for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that is enforced by governments worldwide. However, significant variations are observed in following the policy across individuals and countries. Arguably, differences in citizens’ adherence actions will be influenced by their perceptions about government’s plans and the information available to guide their behaviors—more so in the digital age in the realm of mass influence of social media on citizens. Insights into the underlying factors and dynamics involved with citizens’ adherence process will inform the policy makers to follow appropriate communication and messaging approaches to influence citizens’ willingness to adhere to the recommendations. Objective The aim of this study is a comparative evaluation of citizens’ adherence process to COVID-19–relevant recommendations by the government. The focus is on how three different countries’ (United States, Kuwait, and South Korea) citizens, randomly sampled, respond to governments’ pandemic guidance efforts. We draw insights into two categories of perceived government roles in managing the pandemic: (1) citizens’ perceptions of government’s role in responding to the pandemic and (2) citizens’ perceptions of government’s business reopening efforts. Undoubtedly, the internet and social media have burgeoned, with differing effects on shaping individuals’ views and assessments of the COVID-19 situation; we argue and test for the effects of information sources, social media use, and knowledge on the adherence actions. Methods We randomly sampled web-based survey data collected by a global firm in May 2020 from citizens of the United States, Kuwait, and South Korea. A nonlinear ordered probit regression, controlling for several counterfactuals, was used for analysis. The focal estimated effects of the study were compared across countries using the weighted distance between the parameter estimates. Results The total sample size was 482 respondents, of which 207 (43%) lived in the United States, 181 (38%) lived in Kuwait, and 94 (20%) lived in South Korea. The ordered probit estimation results suggest that overall, perception of government response efforts positively influenced self-adherence (P<.001) and others’ adherence (P<.001) to social distancing and sheltering. Perception of government business reopening efforts positively influenced others’ adherence (P<.001). A higher intensity of general health information source for COVID-19 had a positive effect on self-adherence (P=.003). A higher intensity of social media source use for COVID-19 positively influenced others’ adherence (P=.002). A higher intensity of knowledge on COVID-19 positively influenced self-adherence (P=.008) and negatively influenced others’ adherence (P<.001). There were country-level variations—broadly, the United States and Kuwait had better effects than South Korea. Conclusions As the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to grow and governmental restrictions are ongoing, it is critical to understand people’s frustration to reduce panic and promote social distancing to facilitate the control of the pandemic. This study finds that the government plays a central role in terms of adherence to restrictions. Governments need to enhance their efforts on publicizing information on the pandemic, as well as employ strategies for improved communication management to citizens through social media as well as mainstream information sources.

scholarly journals National Differences in Perceived Benefit of Libraries May Be Due to Their Investments in Libraries, Library Supply, and Cultural Factors

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Glusker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Korea ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Extreme Response

A Review of: Vakkari, P., Aabø, S., Audunson, R., Huysmans, F, Kwon, N., Oomes, M., & Sin, S. (2016). Patterns of perceived public library outcomes in five countries. Journal of Documentation, 72(2), 342–361. http://dx.doi:org/10.1108/JD-08-2015-0103 Objective – To compare citizens' perceptions of the benefits of libraries in five culturally diverse countries. Design – Postal survey to a random stratified sample and web surveys (some with a sampling plan, some apparently not). Setting – Surveys were administered in Finland (by post), Norway, the Netherlands, the United States of America, and South Korea (online). Subjects – Selected or self-selected members of the general adult population in the specified countries who had used a public library within the past year. Methods – Surveys were administered and data were collected in each of the five countries. A dependent variable representing perceived outcomes was calculated from 19 outcome measures (related to life experiences). Within this, 4 indices were calculated from subsets of the 19 measures, relating to work, education, everyday activities, and leisure activities. Five independent variables were used: frequency of library use, number of services used, gender, age, and education level. Respondent country was also entered into analyses. Descriptive statistics and analysis of covariance results were presented. Main Results – It was noted that each country's sample was skewed in some way towards one or more of the variables of gender, age, and education, and some statistical corrections were employed. While patterns within countries are similar, library users from Finland, the United States of America, and South Korea reported higher levels of benefits overall. "Fun in reading" and "self-education" were the two outcomes with the highest scores by respondents. Higher numbers of visits and greater use of services may account for the higher perceived benefits in the three countries reporting them. In fact, these two factors appear to explain a substantial portion of the variance in perceptions of benefits between countries, meaning that between-country variation in library resources and supply plays a role in perception of benefit. There were varied rather than linear patterns of benefit reporting along age and education continua, with those at the lowest education levels deriving the most perceived benefits in all spheres. By gender, women derived fewer perceived benefits in the work sphere than men. Conclusions – There is variation across countries in the level of public library benefits reported, as well as variation across individual measures, creating different profiles of response by country. Even when respondent demographic characteristics and library usage are controlled for, country differences remain. These may be explained by the differences in investment in – and hence supply of – libraries by country, types of investment (e.g., according to the authors, Finland invests in services, Norway in collections, and the USA in staffing), and cultural factors such as the propensity of USA respondents to have a more extreme response style. Future research may profitably concentrate on policy contexts of libraries in each country. In the nineteenth century libraries provided social welfare services and in the twentieth they provided human rights through equitable access to information, so research should focus, by country, on what libraries will provide in the twenty-first century. Future studies might also address how differences in demographic patterns among respondents play out in benefit perceptions between countries.

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