How to Improve Public Health via Mining Social Media Platforms: A Case Study of Human Papillomaviruses (HPV)

2019 ◽  
pp. 207-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansi Zhang ◽  
Christopher Wheldon ◽  
Cui Tao ◽  
Adam G. Dunn ◽  
Yi Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Human Papillomaviruses ◽  
Social Media Platforms

scholarly journals Plandemic Revisited: A Product of Planned Disinformation Amplifying the COVID-19 “infodemic”

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahin Nazar ◽  
Toine Pieters
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Social Experiments ◽  
Scientific Experts ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Social Media Platforms

During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a 26-min documentary entitled Plandemic was released online and fanatically shared via Twitter and other major social media platforms. The producers of the documentary sought to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories and to discredit scientific experts using a sophisticated disinformation campaign. They set out to accomplish this by coaching citizens toward activism to maximize the speed at which the documentary propagated and decrease positive sentiments toward public health interventions. Applying techniques from social network analysis in conjunction with a formative content analysis of Twitter data, we examined the effectiveness of the Plandemic disinformation campaign as a case study of social engineering during the COVID-19 pandemic. By comparing the Twitter network's community structure and communication patterns before and after the release of the film, we demonstrate the Plandemic campaign to have been effective for two reasons. First, the campaign established a decentralized information sharing network on Twitter by coaching low-reach social media users to mass share the documentary, effectively subverting efforts to gatekeep its misinformation. Second, the campaign amplified negative sentiments regarding vaccination and containment measures among conspiracy theorists. These effects possibly have an indirect impact on the public's willingness to comply with public health measures. Our results show the necessity of further research about sophisticated social experiments such as the Plandemic disinformation campaign and provide important insights for policy-making to combat the spread of health misinformation during public health crises.

scholarly journals A Tale of Two Disasters

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 694-694
Author(s):  
Tammy Mermelstein
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Ice Storm ◽  
Social Media Analysis ◽  
Individual Survival ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Abstract Preparing for or experiencing a disaster is never easy, but how leaders communicate with older adults can ease a situation or make it exponentially worse. This case study describes two disasters in the same city: Hurricane Harvey and the 2018 Houston Texas Ice Storm and the variation in messaging provided to and regarding older adults. For example, during Hurricane Harvey, the primary pre-disaster message was self-preparedness. During the storm, messages were also about individual survival. Statements such as “do not [climb into your attic] unless you have an ax or means to break through,” generated additional fear for older adults and loved ones. Yet, when an ice storm paralyzed Houston a few months later, public messaging had a strong “check on your elderly neighbors” component. This talk will explore how messaging for these events impacted older adults through traditional and social media analysis, and describe how social media platforms assisted people with rescue and recovery. Part of a symposium sponsored by Disasters and Older Adults Interest Group.

scholarly journals Developing a social media strategy for R&D in energy efficiency – a case study in progress

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 00006
Author(s):  
Elmar Bartlmae ◽  
Luis Arboledas-Lérida ◽  
Natalie Höppner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Online Tool ◽  
Assessment And Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Procedures ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Social Media Strategy

Social Media platforms are increasingly receiving attention from scholars, as they are presumed to be both useful tools for undertaking professional assignments and a medium for engaging with large audiences and communities, within and outside academia. Additionally, these novel practices online need proper assessment and evaluation procedures. This paper aims to address the possibilities and challenges for niche research and development (R&D) projects in communicating their research via social media. The authors applied a seven-step social media strategy to an ongoing energy efficiency case study and discuss an online tool for monitoring the respective impact on social media.

A shift from science to politics : a content analysis of COVID-19 Videos on YouTube (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chyun-Fung Shi ◽  
Matthew C So ◽  
Sophie Stelmach ◽  
Arielle Earn ◽  
David J D Earn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Conflicting Information ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic is the first pandemic where social media platforms relayed information on a large scale, enabling an “infodemic” of conflicting information which undermined the global response to the pandemic. Understanding how the information circulated and evolved on social media platforms is essential for planning future public health campaigns. OBJECTIVE This study investigated what types of themes about COVID-19 were most viewed on YouTube during the first 8 months of the pandemic, and how COVID-19 themes progressed over this period. METHODS We analyzed top-viewed YouTube COVID-19 related videos in English from from December 1, 2019 to August 16, 2020 with an open inductive content analysis. We coded 536 videos associated with 1.1 billion views across the study period. East Asian countries were the first to report the virus, while most of the top-viewed videos in English were from the US. Videos from straight news outlets dominated the top-viewed videos throughout the outbreak, and public health authorities contributed the fewest. Although straight news was the dominant COVID-19 video source with various types of themes, its viewership per video was similar to that for entertainment news and YouTubers after March. RESULTS We found, first, that collective public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic on YouTube peaked around March 2020, before the outbreak peaked, and flattened afterwards despite a spike in worldwide cases. Second, more videos focused on prevention early on, but videos with political themes increased through time. Third, regarding prevention and control measures, masking received much less attention than lockdown and social distancing in the study period. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that a transition of focus from science to politics on social media intensified the COVID-19 infodemic and may have weakened mitigation measures during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that authorities should consider co-operating with reputable social media influencers to promote health campaigns and improve health literacy. In addition, given high levels of globalization of social platforms and polarization of users, tailoring communication towards different digital communities is likely to be essential.

scholarly journals The use of Twitter and Facebook Social Media in Communicating & Disseminating Weather and Climate Information by Kenya Meteorological Department

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Misiani Zachary ◽  
Lun Yin ◽  
Mwai Zacharia ◽  
Xiaohan Zhang ◽  
Yanyan Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Today, traditional media is still a significant part of disseminating weather and climate information, still they have not been able to reach out to all users of the target audience alone. On the other hand, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. are used as a tool of communicating weather and climate information to various users in a well-organized manner like never before. Using a scientific research methodology of case study, the research was designed to explore how the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) is using Twitter and Facebook accounts for weather and climate information dissemination to various users.

scholarly journals Conflict and chaos: A case study of Ireland’s COVID-19 outbound travel market

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-108
Author(s):  
Tony Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Consumer Confidence ◽  
Operational Decisions ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Travel Industry ◽  
Desk Research

During the COVID-19 pandemic the international outbound travel market from Ireland collapsed, declining at one point by 94%. This case study paper explores the environment which framed the collapse in travel, positioning it as one of conflict and chaos. The main objective is to document and analyse the legal, industry and societal factors which may have contributed to the collapse, identifying the key regulations, decisions, metrics, and societal responses, and exploring their intersection with outbound tourism. Three areas of inquiry are explored, namely: 1) the legal instruments used by government to restrict travel, 2) operational decisions made by industry, and 3) societal and media response to the pandemic. Three findings are presented from the desk research. First, it is suggested that the conflicting agendas of government and public health, the mainstream media and the travel industry would be more effectively dealt with in private as opposed to via news articles, social media arguments, and openly published letters. Second, clarity of communication from all three bodies needs improvement due to its impact on consumer confidence. Finally, the article proposes lessons for government in relation to future crisis management situations regarding outbound travel.

scholarly journals Prevalence of health misinformation in social media: a systematic review (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Suarez-Lledo ◽  
Javier Alvarez-Galvez
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Medical Treatments ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND The propagation of health misinformation through social media has become a major public health concern over the last two decades. Although today there is broad agreement among researchers, health professionals, and policy makers on the need to control and combat health misinformation, the magnitude of this problem is still unknown. Consequently, before adopting the necessary measures for the adequate control of health misinformation in social media, it is fundamental to discover both the most prevalent health topics and the social media platforms from which these topics are initially framed and subsequently disseminated. OBJECTIVE This systematic review aims to identify the main health misinformation topics and their prevalence on different social media platforms, focusing on methodological quality and the diverse solutions that are being implemented to address this public health concern. METHODS This systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA). We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus and the Web of Science for articles published in English before March 2019 with a particular focus on studying health misinformation in social media. We defined health misinformation as a health-related claim based on anecdotal evidence, false, or misleading due to the lack of existing scientific knowledge. The criteria for inclusion were: 1) articles that focused on health misinformation in social media, including those in which the authors discussed the consequences or purposes of health misinformation; and 2) studies that described empirical findings regarding the measurement of health misinformation in these platforms. RESULTS A total of 69 studies were identified as eligible, covering a wide range of health topics and social media platforms. The topics were articulated around six principal categories: vaccines (32%), drugs or smoking (22%), non-communicable disease (19%), pandemics (10%), eating disorders (9%), and medical treatments (7%). Studies were mainly based on five methodological approaches: Social Network Analysis (28%), Evaluating Content (26%), Evaluating Quality (24%), Content/Text analysis (16%) and Sentiment Analysis (6%). Health misinformation proved to be the most more prevalent in studies related to smoking products and drugs such as opioids or marijuana. Posts with misinformation reached 87% in some studies focused in smoking products. Health misinformation about vaccines was also very common (43%), but studies reported different levels of misinformation depending on the different vaccines, with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine being the most affected. Secondly, health misinformation related to diets or pro eating disorders (pro-ED) arguments were moderate in comparison to the aforementioned topics (36%). Studies focused on diseases (i.e. non-communicable diseases and pandemics) also reported moderate misinformation rates (40%), especially in the case of cancer. Finally, the lowest levels of health misinformation were related to medical treatments (30%). CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of health misinformation was most common on Twitter and on issues related to smoking products and drugs. However, misinformation is also high on major public health issues such as vaccines and diseases. Our study offers a comprehensive characterization of the dominant health misinformation topics and a comprehensive description of their prevalence in different social media platforms, which can guide future studies and help in the development of evidence-based digital policy actions plans. CLINICALTRIAL

Indonesian Mobile Learning Information System Using Social Media Platforms

2020 ◽  
pp. 549-573
Author(s):  
Mario Tulenan Parinsi ◽  
Keith Francis Ratumbuisang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Unified Modeling Language ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Unified Modeling ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Visual Model ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Utilization Of Technology ◽  
Social Media Platforms

As a developing country, Indonesia continues to improve its quality as a state, in which the attempt to optimize all of its potential both in terms of economic, political, social, cultural, technological, educational, health, etc. This modern era, all aspects of life are depending on technology. This makes the technology becomes one of necessary in people's life. The utilization of technology has been used by all people in all aspects of life. Specifically, this paper tries to offer an innovation that has never been designed before, namely a platform of M-Learning in form of social media related to the development of technology for learning. Nowadays, internet users and smartphone ownership in Indonesia increased dramatically, then writers took initiative to design an innovation related to this case. Social media technologies provide the opportunity for teachers to engage students in online classes, thereby supporting the development of skills and learners to achieve competency. In addition to students, the opportunity is also open to outside the community to get information that can add knowledge. This case study provides a platform for M-Learning based learning that facilitate student learning also helps society size to obtain information more easily. The design of this platform using models UML (Unified Modeling Language) to design a visual model of this platform.

Social Media as Alternative Public Sphere for Citizen Participation and Protest in National Politics in Zimbabwe

2018 ◽  
pp. 17-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

The chapter examines and discusses the role and communicative potential of social media based platforms in citizen political participation and protests in Zimbabwe specifically focusing on the #thisflag movement on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. #thisflag is a social media-based platform that rose to challenge the Zimbabwean government over the political and economic decay as well as rampant corruption characterising the country contemporarily. While a new phenomenon to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics, the impact and communicative potential of social media as an alternative public sphere was recently tested in nationwide protest stayaway organised through the Facebook and Twitter movement under the #thisflag handle/brand. This chapter discusses the manners in which such social media platforms impact national politics in Zimbabwe as well as globally, specifically looking at the #thisflag movement as a case study.

Amplification and Virtual Back-Patting

2018 ◽  
pp. 1527-1542
Author(s):  
Jakob Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Instrumental Rationality ◽  
Communicative Rationality ◽  
Liberal Party ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Media Texts

This chapter explores the rationalities of politicians' social media uses in Web-campaigning in a party-based democracy. This is done from an in-depth case study of a Swedish politician, Nina Larsson, who with the help of a PR agency utilized several social media platforms in her campaign to become re-elected to the parliament in 2010. By analyzing how and for what purposes Larsson used social media in her Web-campaign, this chapter concludes that even though discourses of instrumental rationality and of communicative rationality were common to make her practices relevant, Nina primarily used social media to amplify certain offline news media texts as well as to commend and support other liberal party members. Hence, from this case, the authors conclude that Web-campaigning on social media is used for expressive purposes, to negotiate and maintain an attractive political image within the party hierarchy.

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