scholarly journals Sustained Online Amplification of COVID-19 Elites in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110249
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Gallagher ◽  
Larissa Doroshenko ◽  
Sarah Shugars ◽  
David Lazer ◽  
Brooke Foucault Welles
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Year ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Vaccine Distribution ◽  
Political Alignment

In the absence of clear, consistent guidelines about the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, many people use social media to learn about the virus, public health directives, vaccine distribution, and other health information. As people individually sift through a flood of information online, they collectively curate a small set of accounts, known as crowdsourced elites, that receive disproportionate attention for their COVID-19 content. However, these elites are not all created equal: not all accounts have received the same attention during the pandemic, and various demographic and ideological groups have crowdsourced their own elites. Using a mixed-methods approach with a panel of Twitter users in the United States over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we identify COVID-19 crowdsourced elites. We distinguish sustained amplification from episodic amplification and demonstrate that crowdsourced elites vary across demographics with respect to race, geography, and political alignment. Specifically, we show that different subpopulations preferentially amplify elites that are demographically similar to them, and that they crowdsource different types of elite accounts, such as journalists, elected officials, and medical professionals, in different proportions. In light of this variation, we discuss the potential for using the disproportionate online voice of crowdsourced COVID-19 elites to equitably promote public health information and mitigate misinformation across networked publics.

scholarly journals Just Say No: Dr Richard I. Evans Efforts to Influence Juvenile Behaviour through US Public Health Programming

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (18) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Emily Vinson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Psychology ◽  
United States ◽  
Educational Television ◽  
Natural Extension ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Health Programming

Television as a means of distributing public health information and influencing health behaviours was recognized even in the earliest days of broadcasting, a natural extension of health messaging on radio and film. This paper examines the place health-focused programming held in the United States’ educational television landscape and the role of Dr Richard I. Evans, social-psychology researcher, who sought to use television to influence the behaviours of youths engaging in “risky” activities.

scholarly journals Assessment of Health Information About COVID-19 Prevention on the Internet: Infodemiological Study

10.2196/18717 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. e18717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Hernández-García ◽  
Teresa Giménez-Júlvez
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Google Search

Background The internet is a large source of health information and has the capacity to influence its users. However, the information found on the internet often lacks scientific rigor, as anyone may upload content. This factor is a cause of great concern to scientific societies, governments, and users. Objective The objective of our study was to investigate the information about the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the internet. Methods On February 29, 2020, we performed a Google search with the terms “Prevention coronavirus,” “Prevention COVID-19,” “Prevención coronavirus,” and “Prevención COVID-19”. A univariate analysis was performed to study the association between the type of authorship, country of publication, and recommendations to avoid COVID-19 according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Results In total, 80 weblinks were reviewed. Most of them were produced in the United States and Spain (n=58, 73%) by digital media sources and official public health organizations (n=60, 75%). The most mentioned WHO preventive measure was “wash your hands frequently” (n=65, 81%). A less frequent recommendation was to “stay home if you feel unwell” (n=26, 33%). The analysis by type of author (official public health organizations versus digital media) revealed significant differences regarding the recommendation to wear a mask when you are healthy only if caring for a person with suspected COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 4.39). According to the country of publication (Spain versus the United States), significant differences were detected regarding some recommendations such as “wash your hands frequently” (OR 9.82), “cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze” (OR 4.59), or “stay home if you feel unwell” (OR 0.31). Conclusions It is necessary to urge and promote the use of the websites of official public health organizations when seeking information on COVID-19 preventive measures on the internet. In this way, users will be able to obtain high-quality information more frequently, and such websites may improve their accessibility and positioning, given that search engines justify the positioning of links obtained in a search based on the frequency of access to them.

Twitter jako źródło wiedzy o stanie zdrowia polskiego społeczeństwa – ujęcie infodemiologiczne.

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (49) ◽  
pp. 120-0
Author(s):  
Agata Malesińska
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Novel Concept ◽  
Insight Into

Article explores a novel concept of mining social media for information on public health (infodemiology) and provides insight into chosen results of original research covering random tweets by Polish Twitter users. Author asks what public health information can be learned from “Polish Twitter” and whether the collected data might be a valuable and reliable starting point for a broader analysis of Polish public health.

PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 722-728
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Infant Mortality Rate ◽  
First Year ◽  
Infant Deaths ◽  
One Year

THE infant mortality rate in 1947 was the lowest on record, according to figures released by the National Office of Vital Statistics of the Public Health Service, Federal Security Agency. The number of deaths under one year recorded in the United States during 1947 was 119,173, or 8,110 more than the number (111,063) reported in 1946. However, this increase reflects the tremendous increase in the number of births during 1947 and not a rise in infant mortality. The relative frequency of infant deaths as [SEE TABLE 1,2 and 3 IN SOURCE PDF] measured by the infant mortality rate decreased from 33.8 per 1,000 live births in 1946 to 32.2 in 1947. Provisional figures indicate a further decline in 1948 to an estimated rate of 31.8. The five leading causes of infant deaths in 1947 and the infant mortality rates for each are: premature birth, 11.1 ; congenital malformations, 4.6; pneumonia and influenza, 3.6; injury at birth, 3,5; and asphyxia and atelectasis, 1.6. These leading causes accounted for 75.7% of all the infant deaths in 1947. This was the first year that asphyxia and atelectasis ranked among the five leading causes of infant deaths and that diarrhea, enteritis and ulceration of the intestines has not been in this group. The number of deaths [See Table 4 in source pdf] under one you and infant mortality rates for selected causes in the United States during 1946 and 1947 are presented in Table 2. The relative frequency of deaths under one year is greatest for the under one day age group and decreases steadily with age. Mortality is higher among nonwhite than white infants deaths and among male than female infants. The number of infants deaths and infant mortality rates in the United States for 1947 by subdivisions of the first year of life, race, and sex, are shown in Table 1.

scholarly journals Assessment of Health Information About COVID-19 Prevention on the Internet: Infodemiological Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Hernández-García ◽  
Teresa Giménez-Júlvez
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Google Search

BACKGROUND The internet is a large source of health information and has the capacity to influence its users. However, the information found on the internet often lacks scientific rigor, as anyone may upload content. This factor is a cause of great concern to scientific societies, governments, and users. OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to investigate the information about the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the internet. METHODS On February 29, 2020, we performed a Google search with the terms “Prevention coronavirus,” “Prevention COVID-19,” “Prevención coronavirus,” and “Prevención COVID-19”. A univariate analysis was performed to study the association between the type of authorship, country of publication, and recommendations to avoid COVID-19 according to the World Health Organization (WHO). RESULTS In total, 80 weblinks were reviewed. Most of them were produced in the United States and Spain (n=58, 73%) by digital media sources and official public health organizations (n=60, 75%). The most mentioned WHO preventive measure was “wash your hands frequently” (n=65, 81%). A less frequent recommendation was to “stay home if you feel unwell” (n=26, 33%). The analysis by type of author (official public health organizations versus digital media) revealed significant differences regarding the recommendation to wear a mask when you are healthy only if caring for a person with suspected COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 4.39). According to the country of publication (Spain versus the United States), significant differences were detected regarding some recommendations such as “wash your hands frequently” (OR 9.82), “cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze” (OR 4.59), or “stay home if you feel unwell” (OR 0.31). CONCLUSIONS It is necessary to urge and promote the use of the websites of official public health organizations when seeking information on COVID-19 preventive measures on the internet. In this way, users will be able to obtain high-quality information more frequently, and such websites may improve their accessibility and positioning, given that search engines justify the positioning of links obtained in a search based on the frequency of access to them.

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