Comparing Representation of Depression on Reddit and Twitter Social Media Platforms (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Kaji ◽  
Maggie Bushman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Dsm Iv ◽  
Twitter Users

BACKGROUND Adolescents with depression often turn to social media to express their feelings, for support, and for educational purposes. Little is known about how Reddit, a forum-based platform, compares to Twitter, a newsfeed platform, when it comes to content surrounding depression. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to identify differences between Reddit and Twitter concerning how depression is discussed and represented online. METHODS A content analysis of Reddit posts and Twitter posts, using r/depression and #depression, identified signs of depression using the DSM-IV criteria. Other youth-related topics, including School, Family, and Social Activity, and the presence of medical or promotional content were also coded for. Relative frequency of each code was then compared between platforms as well as the average DSM-IV score for each platform. RESULTS A total of 102 posts were included in this study, with 53 Reddit posts and 49 Twitter posts. Findings suggest that Reddit has more content with signs of depression with 92% than Twitter with 24%. 28.3% of Reddit posts included medical content compared to Twitter with 18.4%. 53.1% of Twitter posts had promotional content while Reddit posts didn’t contain promotional content. CONCLUSIONS Users with depression seem more willing to discuss their mental health on the subreddit r/depression than on Twitter. Twitter users also use #depression with a wider variety of topics, not all of which actually involve a case of depression.

Mental health symptoms in the comment sections of climate change posts on Instagram: A content analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen Tsao ◽  
Anna Jolliff
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND Background: In ever increasing frequency, shocking news reports, opinion pieces and sad imagery are being posted on social media platforms that are widely used by adolescents. Such posts may have the potential to affect adolescent mental health. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis analyzing comments under positively and negatively framed climate change advocacy posts, in order to gauge symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as positive affect. METHODS A sample of 100 Instagram comments on 10 positive and 10 negatively framed climate change advocacy posts were collected and analyzed for symptoms of depression, anxiety and positive affect. Posts were found through Instagram’s hashtag section, and both the positive and negative ones were found on ‘#climatechange’, under the ‘most popular tab’. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyze the comments under each post and to understand differences in mental health-related comments below positive and negative climate change posts. RESULTS Seventeen percent of total comments referenced depression, 5% showed anxious symptoms, and 32% referenced positive affect. No statistically significant difference was found between likes, comments, and followers on negative versus positively framed climate change posts. CONCLUSIONS While depressive and anxious symptoms did exist in Instagram comment sections, they were less prevalent than positive references. Both positive and negative post accounts had around the same number of likes and followers, suggesting that neither post type significantly benefits or hurts account popularity. This suggests that Instagram is a viable platform for positive messages and climate change activism in general. Further research should look into the prevalence of mental health references in climate change content on other social media sites.

scholarly journals Promises and Pitfalls of Instagram Data Donations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Ingeborg van Driel ◽  
Anastasia Giachanou ◽  
J. Loes Pouwels ◽  
Laura Boeschoten ◽  
Ine Beyens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Automated Content Analysis ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Studies into the association of social media use with mental health are largely based on measures of time spent on social media. The small and inconsistent results in these studies may be due to a lack of explanatory power of time-based measures. Data Download Packages (DDPs), the archives of social media platforms that each user is allowed to download, provide a new and promising method to collect content-based information about social media use. In this study, we discuss the promises and pitfalls of DDPs based on an exploratory analysis of 110 Instagram DDPs gathered from 102 adolescents. DDPs provide tremendous opportunities to get insight in the frequency, range, and content of social media activities, from browsing to searching and posting. Yet, the method is also complex and laborious and demands numerous procedural and analytical choices and decisions. Moreover, due to several factors unique to social media interactions, automated content analysis may be challenging. We successively discuss the challenges and opportunities of collecting and analyzing DDPs to help future researchers in their consideration of whether and how to use DDPs.

scholarly journals #UsapTayo: Utilizing Tweetchat for Mental Health Advocacy in the Philippines

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Zuniga ◽  
R Dahildahil ◽  
J Mina ◽  
A Libanan ◽  
R Mojica ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Suicide Prevention ◽  
Penetration Rate ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Health Advocacy ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
Mental Health Advocacy

Abstract Mental health remains a public health concern across countries. It is estimated that 1 in 4 people will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. In the Philippines, about 3 million Filipinos live with depression. Mortality rate for suicide is 3.2 per 100,000 population. Meanwhile, social media use remains high in the country with 76 million users in 2019. It is thus important to explore potential ways in maximizing social media for mental health advocacy. From January 1 to December 31, 2019, a mental health tweetchat “#UsapTayo” (direct Filipino translation of WHO's #LetsTalk) was observed every 10th, 20th, 30th of the month from 7:00 to 8:00 PM. #UsapTayo aimed to answer how effective social media platforms like Twitter in promoting mental health awareness and education among Filipino Twitter users. Engagements and impressions from users were measured using Symplur, a healthcare hashtag analytics platform. From January to December 2019, a total of 4,626 users participated in the tweetchat. Impressions for the year reached 52 million with an average of 4.75 million impressions per month. Engagements and impressions were recorded highest in the month of September with 1,169 users and 8.74 million, respectively. Overall, the tweetchat #UsapTayo was able to generate 14,385 tweets for the complete calendar year with suicide prevention identified as the most discussed topic among Filipino Twitter users. Given the country's high social media penetration rate at 71% with Twitter ranking as the second most frequently used social media, leveraging this platform improves access to information and helps in normalizing conversations on mental health. #UsapTayo then partnered with #ThereIsHelp, a project initiated by Twitter to create safer spaces online through integration of suicide prevention measures. It was also recommended convening a multistakeholder consultation to develop a national mental health promotion and communication plan. Key messages Innovative platforms in social media like tweetchat can be leveraged to promote safer digital space for mental health and to strengthen online effort for suicide prevention especially among youth. It is important to maximize the use of social media platforms for mental health advocacy particularly suicide prevention given the Philippines’ high penetration rate and access to social media.

Twitter Users’ Displays of Affect in the Global Warming Debate

2021 ◽  
pp. 004728162110078
Author(s):  
Shanna Cameron ◽  
Alexandra Russell ◽  
Luke Brake ◽  
Katherine Fredlund ◽  
Angela Morris
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Technical Communication ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Twitter Users

This article engages with recent discussions in the field of technical communication that call for climate change research that moves beyond the believer/denier dichotomy. For this study, our research team coded 900 tweets about climate change and global warming for different emotions in order to understand how Twitter users rely on affect rhetorically. Our findings use quantitative content analysis to challenge current assumptions about writing and affect on social media, and our results indicate a number of arenas for future research on affect, global warming, and rhetoric.

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.

Using Natural Language Processing to Assess the Psychological Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Insomnia via Tweets: A Pre-Post Retrospective Pilot Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Maghsoudi ◽  
Sara Nowakowski ◽  
Ritwick Agrawal ◽  
Amir Sharafkhaneh ◽  
Sadaf Aram ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Additional Stress ◽  
Mental Health Condition ◽  
Twitter Users

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed additional stress on population health that may result in a higher incidence of insomnia. In this study, we hypothesized that using natural language processing (NLP) to explore social media would help to identify the mental health condition of the population experiencing insomnia after the outbreak of COVID-19. OBJECTIVE In this study, we hypothesized that using natural language processing (NLP) to explore social media would help to identify the mental health condition of the population experiencing insomnia after the outbreak of COVID-19. METHODS We designed a pre-post retrospective study using public social media content from Twitter. We categorized tweets based on time into two intervals: prepandemic (01/01/2019 to 01/01/2020) and pandemic (01/01/2020 to 01/01/2021). We used NLP to analyze polarity (positive/negative) and intensity of emotions and also users’ tweets psychological states in terms of sadness, anxiety and anger by counting the words related to these categories in each tweet. Additionally, we performed temporal analysis to examine the effect of time on the users’ insomnia experience. RESULTS We extracted 268,803 tweets containing the word insomnia (prepandemic, 123,293 and pandemic, 145,510). The odds of negative tweets (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.29-1.33), anger (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.16-1.21), and anxiety (OR, 1.24; 95% CI: 1.21-1.26) were higher during the pandemic compared to prepandemic. The likelihood of negative tweets after midnight was higher than for other daily intevals, comprising approximately 60% of all negative insomnia-related tweets in 2020 and 2021 collectively. CONCLUSIONS Twitter users shared more negative tweets about insomnia during the pandemic than during the year before. Also, more anger and anxiety-related content were disseminated during the pandemic on the social media platform. Future studies using an NLP framework could assess tweets about other psychological distress, habit changes, weight gain due to inactivity, and the effect of viral infection on sleep.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Gun Advertisements on Social Media: Systematic Search and Content Analysis of Twitter and YouTube Posts (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Jordan ◽  
James Kalin ◽  
Colleen Dabrowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Systematic Search ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Corporate Ownership ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Streaming Services ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Different Characteristics

BACKGROUND Although gun violence has been identified as a major public health concern, the scope and significance of internet gun advertising is not known. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to quantify the characteristics of gun advertising on social media and to compare the reach of posts by manufacturers with those of influencers. METHODS Using a systematic search, we created a database of recent and popular Twitter and YouTube posts made public by major firearm manufacturers and influencers. From our sample of social media posts, we reviewed the content of the posts on the basis of 19 different characteristics, such as type of gun, presence of women, and military or police references. Our content analysis summarized statistical differences in the information conveyed in posts to compare advertising approaches across social media platforms. RESULTS Sample posts revealed that firearm manufacturers use social media to attract audiences to websites that sell firearms: 14.1% (131/928; ±2.9) of Twitter posts, 53.6% (228/425; ±6.2) of YouTube videos, and 89.5% (214/239; ±5.1) of YouTube influencer videos link to websites that facilitate sales. Advertisements included women in efforts to market handguns and pistols for the purpose of protection: videos with women included protection themes 2.5 times more often than videos without women. Top manufacturers of domestic firearms received 98 million channel views, compared with 6.1 billion channel views received by the top 12 YouTube influencers. CONCLUSIONS Firearm companies use social media as an advertising platform to connect viewers to websites that sell guns. Gun manufacturers appropriate YouTube servers, video streaming services, and the work of YouTube influencers to reach large audiences to promote the widespread sale of consumer firearms. YouTube and Twitter subsidize gun advertising by offering server and streaming services at no cost to gun manufacturers, to the commercial benefit of Google and Twitter’s corporate ownership.

scholarly journals Twitter, Telepractice, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Social Media Content Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Kristen Weidner ◽  
Joneen Lowman ◽  
Anne Fleischer ◽  
Kyle Kosik ◽  
Peyton Goodbread ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Implementation Framework ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Twitter Users

Purpose Telepractice was extensively utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known about issues experienced during the wide-scale rollout of a service delivery model that was novel to many. Social media research is a way to unobtrusively analyze public communication, including during a health crisis. We investigated the characteristics of tweets about telepractice through the lens of an established health technology implementation framework. Results can help guide efforts to support and sustain telehealth beyond the pandemic context. Method We retrieved a historical Twitter data set containing tweets about telepractice from the early months of the pandemic. Tweets were analyzed using a concurrent mixed-methods content analysis design informed by the nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework. Results Approximately 2,200 Twitter posts were retrieved, and 820 original tweets were analyzed qualitatively. Volume of tweets about telepractice increased in the early months of the pandemic. The largest group of Twitter users tweeting about telepractice was a group of clinical professionals. Tweet content reflected many, but not all, domains of the NASSS framework. Conclusions Twitter posting about telepractice increased during the pandemic. Although many tweets represented topics expected in technology implementation, some represented phenomena were potentially unique to speech-language pathology. Certain technology implementation topics, notably sustainability, were not found in the data. Implications for future telepractice implementation and further research are discussed.

scholarly journals Examining the Role of Facebook in the Dissemination of Hate Messages over the Agitation for Biafra in Ikeja, Lagos

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (09) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ogbu S. U. ◽  
Olupohunda Bayo Festus
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Regulatory Mechanisms ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods ◽  
Method Approach

In Nigeria, during the agitation for Biafra by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra between 2013 and 2017, the role of Facebook in the dissemination of hate messages by the protagonists and those in opposition to the agitation raised concern about the role of social media as a tool for the spread of hate messages. It is against this background that this research was designed to evaluate the role of Facebook in the spread of hate messages over the agitation for the separate state of Biafra. The study adopted the exploratory design and the mix method approach; both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. For the quantitative data, 400 questionnaires were administered on purposively sampled respondents. The surveys were analyzed using simple percentages and frequency distribution. Also, content analysis of some purposively selected Facebook messages was carried out. In the end, the research found that hate messages were propagated through Facebook using six major channels during the agitation for Biafra between 2013 and 2017. They include; Facebook Personal Profiles, Status Updates and Wall Postings, Facebook Group Chats, Facebook Video Uploads, Individual Comments and Likes, Video Shares and Reposts, and sharing of articles and links to other social media platforms. In line with its findings, the research recommended that Facebook should review its community standards and policies on postings of hate messages through its medium and also strengthen its regulatory mechanisms to ensure that it does not provide a platform anymore for propagators of hate messages in Nigeria and around the world.

scholarly journals Mental health information online: what we have learned from social media metrics in BuzzFeed’s Mental Health Week

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 326-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais Martini ◽  
Leticia S. Czepielewski ◽  
Daniel Prates Baldez ◽  
Emma Gliddon ◽  
Christian Kieling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Information Channel ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Mental Health Information ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Abstract Introduction The Internet has seen rapid growth in the number of websites focusing on mental health content. Considering the increased need for access to accurate information about mental health treatment, it is important to understand the promotion of this information online. Objective To analyze BuzzFeed’s Mental Health Week (BFMHW) interactions on its own website and in related social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) using metrics of information delivery in mental health topics. Methods We extracted social media metrics from the 20 posts with the highest number of BuzzFeed interactions on the BFMHW website and from 41 videos available on the BFMHW playlist created by the BuzzFeed Video profile on YouTube. We analyzed the format and content used in BuzzFeed’s publishing methods as well as the following social media metrics: exposure (presence online, views and time online), influence (likes) and engagement (comments, shares, replies and BuzzFeed interactions). Results Analysis of the variables revealed that audience engagement is associated with the number of medias in which the content is published: views on YouTube and shares on Facebook (0.71, p<0.001), total interactions on Facebook (0.66, p<0.001) and BuzzFeed number of total interactions (0.56, p<0.001). Conclusions Our results suggest that videos on YouTube may be an important information channel, including activity and engagement on other medias such as Facebook. Information may be more effective in reaching the audience if it is delivered in more than one media and includes personal experiences, some humor in content and detailed information about treatment.

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