Quantifying Network Dynamics and Information Flow Across Chinese Social Media During the African Ebola Outbreak

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shihui Feng ◽  
Liaquat Hossain ◽  
John W. Crawford ◽  
Terry Bossomaier
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Disaster Medicine ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Platform

ABSTRACTObjectiveSocial media provides us with a new platform on which to explore how the public responds to disasters and, of particular importance, how they respond to the emergence of infectious diseases such as Ebola. Provided it is appropriately informed, social media offers a potentially powerful means of supporting both early detection and effective containment of communicable diseases, which is essential for improving disaster medicine and public health preparedness.MethodsThe 2014 West African Ebola outbreak is a particularly relevant contemporary case study on account of the large number of annual arrivals from Africa, including Chinese employees engaged in projects in Africa. Weibo (Weibo Corp, Beijing, China) is China’s most popular social media platform, with more than 2 billion users and over 300 million daily posts, and offers great opportunity to monitor early detection and promotion of public health awareness.ResultsWe present a proof-of-concept study of a subset of Weibo posts during the outbreak demonstrating potential and identifying priorities for improving the efficacy and accuracy of information dissemination. We quantify the evolution of the social network topology within Weibo relating to the efficacy of information sharing.ConclusionsWe show how relatively few nodes in the network can have a dominant influence over both the quality and quantity of the information shared. These findings make an important contribution to disaster medicine and public health preparedness from theoretical and methodological perspectives for dealing with epidemics. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:26–37)

scholarly journals A Panel Evaluation of the Changes in the General Public’s Social-Media-Following of United States’ Public Health Departments during COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272199545
Author(s):  
Areej Khokhar ◽  
Aaron Spaulding ◽  
Zuhair Niazi ◽  
Sikander Ailawadhi ◽  
Rami Manochakian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Health Department ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Departments ◽  
The Social ◽  
The U.S

Importance: Social media is widely used by various segments of society. Its role as a tool of communication by the Public Health Departments in the U.S. remains unknown. Objective: To determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social media following of the Public Health Departments of the 50 States of the U.S. Design, Setting, and Participants: Data were collected by visiting the Public Health Department web page for each social media platform. State-level demographics were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention was utilized to collect information regarding the Governance of each State’s Public Health Department. Health rankings were collected from “America’s Health Rankings” 2019 Annual report from the United Health Foundation. The U.S. News and World Report Education Rankings were utilized to provide information regarding the public education of each State. Exposure: Data were pulled on 3 separate dates: first on March 5th (baseline and pre-national emergency declaration (NED) for COVID-19), March 18th (week following NED), and March 25th (2 weeks after NED). In addition, a variable identifying the total change across platforms was also created. All data were collected at the State level. Main Outcome: Overall, the social media following of the state Public Health Departments was very low. There was a significant increase in the public interest in following the Public Health Departments during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: With the declaration of National Emergency, there was a 150% increase in overall public following of the State Public Health Departments in the U.S. The increase was most noted in the Midwest and South regions of the U.S. The overall following in the pandemic “hotspots,” such as New York, California, and Florida, was significantly lower. Interesting correlations were noted between various demographic variables, health, and education ranking of the States and the social media following of their Health Departments. Conclusion and Relevance: Social media following of Public Health Departments across all States of the U.S. was very low. Though, the social media following significantly increased during the early course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it still remains low. Significant opportunity exists for Public Health Departments to improve social media use to engage the public better.

scholarly journals @Indonesiatanpafeminis.id as a Challenge of Feminist Movement in Virtual Space

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eni Maryani ◽  
Preciosa Alnashava Janitra ◽  
Reksa Anggia Ratmita
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nahdlatul Ulama ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Dynamic Relationships

The fast-growing social media in Indonesia has opened up opportunities for spreading feminist ideas to a wider and more diverse audience. Various social media accounts especially Instagram that focus on gender advocacy and feminism such as @indonesiafeminis, @lawanpatriarki, and @feminismanis have developed in Indonesia. However, the development of the social media platform also presents groups that oppose feminists. One of the accounts of women’s groups that oppose feminists is @indonesiatanpafeminis.id (@indonesiawithoutfeminist.id). The research objectives are namely to analyze the diversity of issues and reveal the discourse contestation that developed in the @indonesiatanpafeminis.id, and dynamic relationships on the online and offline spaces between groups of feminists and anti-feminists or the other interest. This research employed the digital ethnography method that utilized observation, interview, and literature study as data collection techniques. This study found that the online conversations at @indonesiatanpafeminis.id revealed misconceptions on feminism from a group of women with a religious identity. Furthermore, the conversation also tends to strengthen patriarchal values with religious arguments that are gender-biased. However, the @indonesiatanpafeminis.id serves as a public space for open debates and education on feminist issues. The anti-feminist group behind the @indonesiatanpafeminis.id are women who identify themselves in a certain Muslim circle that has political, cultural, and religious agendas. One of the agendas is to influence the public to reject the Sexual Violence Eradication Bill. This study also noted the Muslim supporters of anti-feminism in Indonesia are less popular compared to progressive religious-based Muslim women organizations such as Aisyiyah (Muhammadiyah), Muslimat NU (Nahdlatul Ulama), and Rahima (Center for Education and Information on Islam and Women’s Rights). The study also evokes discussion on how the feminist and anti-feminist discourses can be utilized to criticize and develop the women’s movement or feminism in a multicultural context.

Facebook confessions: Corporate abdication and Silicon Valley dystopianism

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482093354
Author(s):  
Tero Karppi ◽  
David B Nieborg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Silicon Valley ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Platform

This article investigates the public confessions of a small group of ex-Facebook employees, investors, and founders who express regret helping to build the social media platform. Prompted by Facebook’s role in the 2016 United States elections and pointing to the platform’s unintended consequences, the confessions are more than formal admissions of sins. They speak of Facebook’s capacity to damage democratic decision-making and “exploit human psychology,” suggesting that individual users, children in particular, should disconnect. Rather than expressions of truth, this emerging form of corporate abdication constructs dystopian narratives that have the power shape our future visions of social platforms and give rise to new utopias. As such, and marking a stark break with decades of technological utopianism, the confessions are an emergent form of Silicon Valley dystopianism.

Mediatization of conflict in the social media era: A case study of Sino-Indian border crisis in 2017

Journalism ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 146488491987032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shixin Ivy Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Actor Networks

Inspired by the concepts of Arrested War and actor–network theory, this study has traced and analyzed four main actors in the wars and conflicts in the social media age: social media platform, the mainstream news organizations, online users, and social media content. These four human and nonhuman actors associate, interact, and negotiate with each other in the social media network surrounding specific issues. Based on the case study of Sino-Indian border crisis in 2017, the central argument is that social media is playing an enabling role in contemporary wars and conflicts. Both professional media outlets and web users employ the functionalities of social media platforms to set, counter-set, or expand the public agenda. Social media platform embodies a web of technological and human complexities with different actors, factors, interests, and relations. These actor-networks and the macro social-political context are influential in the mediatization of conflict in the social media era.

Community ready! Assessing and meeting the needs of parents in Arlington County, VA

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Marina S. Moses, DrPH, MS ◽  
Donna S. Caruso, RN, MSN ◽  
Timothy G. Otten, MPH ◽  
Sam Simmens, PhD ◽  
Tee L. Guidotti, MD, MPH
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Emergency Preparedness

In March 2006, three elementary schools, composed of at least 50 percent Latino populations, were selected in Arlington, VA, to participate in a multitiered survey to evaluate parents’ emergency preparedness needs. This article describes how to identify vulnerable populations and tailor specific information and services to their public health needs. An oral survey was administered to parents in their preferred language, English or Spanish, regarding their questions, concerns, preferences, and needs pertaining to public health emergency preparedness. Major themes that emerged included the need for language and culturally sensitive preparedness information; the merit of using established community venues for parents to gather; and the importance of using group specific preferred modes of information dissemination. Significant differences were observed between English speakers and Spanish speakers’ perceived vulnerability, level of preparedness, and preferences for acquiring information. An important similarity that presented itself was that all parents surveyed regard the public school system as safe, trustworthy, and best suited for providing public health preparedness information to the community. Based on this study, an innovative model is being developed called Community Ready! which will be an all-hazards approach to public health preparedness outreach that will be reproducible in other municipalities and school districts.

scholarly journals Social Media and Reproductive Health - Communication Model of Adolescent Reproductive Health in Social Media

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Yanti Setianti ◽  
Susanne Dida ◽  
Lilis Puspitasari ◽  
Aat Ruchiat Nugraha
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
High Selectivity ◽  
Communication Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Correct Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Adolescent Reproductive Health ◽  
The Right

Communication via social media has created a positive output on information dissemination in every aspect of life, including health. One of the social media functions is to support development by empowering the public in taking care of their own health and welfare. It is essential to develop an effective communication model for disseminating information on adolescent reproductive health. The rapid growth in the number of health reproductive information portals in the social media, the circumstances are creating a high selectivity on the right and correct information needed for the adolescent based on the particular condition in each region. 

scholarly journals Social network analysis of climate change discussion on Twitter during COP21

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany E. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
The Public ◽  
Climate Change Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Twitter Users

The public is increasingly relying on Twitter for climate change information; however, to date, this social media platform is poorly understood in terms of how climate change information is shared. This study evaluates discussions on Twitter during the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) to elucidate the social media platform’s role in communicating climate change information. For a five-day period, links embedded in a sample of tweets containing “#climatechange” were characterized, Twitter users were classified by the types of links they typically shared, and their degree centralities (the number of connections for each user) were measured. There was little skeptical content across all user categories; however, news links were more likely than non-news to contain content that is skeptical of climate change. Users who typically shared skeptical news links and users who typically shared non-skeptical non-news links exhibited a relatively high number of connections with other users.

scholarly journals Countering the New Media Podia: Youth and ‘Fake News’ in Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-12
Author(s):  
Oloo Ong’ong’a
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Fake News ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal Structures ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
The Media

The rise of fake news into the new media platform has raised significant concern in Africa and Kenya in recent years. The new media has embedded itself with fake news, which sometimes has led to the misunderstanding and misinformation of particular events that might be of the public interest. The general public, policymakers, and scholars, as well as the media, have found this as a very challenging issue. The upsurge of the new technologies, mainly social media, has posed challenges as youth immerse themselves in utilizing these social media for their own benefits. This is coupled with the creation and spreading of fake news, which sometimes when it goes viral; they lead to stress, panic and uncertainty to the individuals that come across them. The ability of users’ exceptional capacity to produce, reproduce, and distribute their information to a broad audience makes social media, an essential tool in the information age. The article critically reviews the literature on fake news and recommends for media literacy, strengthening the legal structures and use of sophisticated technologies as a strategy to fight fake news in the social media in Kenya.

scholarly journals Social Media as an Opportunity for Public Health Interventions: The #Metoo Movement as an Exemplar

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Gomez Bravo ◽  
María Gómez Bravo ◽  
Charilaos Lygidakis ◽  
Claus Vögele
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Social Media Marketing ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Networks ◽  
The Social

Background: Social media have been used exponentially and globally, providing a means for billions of users to connect, interact, share opinions and criticise, becoming one of the main channels of communication for users around the world. One of the most popular free social media networks is Twitter, with more than 100 million active users per day worldwide. Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse a sample of the public conversations generated, using the hashtag #MeToo, around the topic of sexual abuse on Twitter.  Methods:  Using social media marketing software, the use of the #MeToo hashtag was analysed over a period of 60 days (14 September 2017 to 13 November of 2017). Results: The #MeToo conversation was mainly in English (79.3%), located in the United States (48.2% of cases), but with global repercussions. The volume of mentions of the #MeToo hashtag was far greater (97.7%), compared with other hashtags related to violence over this period of time, using mostly Twitter (96.2%). Conclusions: These results suggest that it is possible to describe different groups using the social media, and analyse their conversations to identify opportunities for successful public health interventions.  If the topic is relevant for the general public, it will generate interest and conversations at the global level, supported by a universal and borderless channel such as Twitter.

Pro-Business or Common Citizen?

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish K. Rathore ◽  
Nikhil Tuli ◽  
P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
The Public ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Use ◽  
Media Platform

This paper examines the social media content of a woman Indian chief executive officer (CEO) in her communication in the public space. The active involvement of CEO in communication activities influences the business effectiveness, performance, and standing of the business headed by her. The emerging social media has become an essential strategic tool from “buzz word” with more popularity among businesses and creates great opportunities for communication efforts both for corporate and personal use of CEO. For this study, Tweets posted on Twitter, a micro-blogging social media platform, by an Indian woman CEO are used for analysis. Rstudio and Nvivo were used for tweets extraction and analysis. The findings show the various themes in CEO's communication which are categorized in different sectors. The tweets are limited to business sector; it also includes the personal (feelings and status updates), political views and social concerns (ranging from water scarcity, education, illiteracy, women empowerment, need for improved governance, policy support). The paper extends the theoretical and empirical arguments for the importance of CEOs' social media communications. Finally, this research suggests that with a well-planned and strategic social media use, CEOs can create value for themselves and their businesses.

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