The evolution of rumors on a closed platform during COVID-19 (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Wen-Yi Wang ◽  
Jo-Yu Lan ◽  
Ming-Hung Wang ◽  
Chihhao Yu

BACKGROUND In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put the world in crisis on both physical and psychological health. Simultaneously, a myriad of unverified information flowed on social media and online outlets. The situation was so severe that the World Health Organization identified it an infodemic on February 2020. OBJECTIVE We want to study the propagation patterns and textual transformation of COVID-19 related rumors on a closed-platform. METHODS We obtained a dataset of 114 thousand suspicious text messages collected on Taiwan’s most popular instant messaging platform, LINE. We also proposed an algorithm that efficiently cluster text messages into groups, where each group contains text messages within limited difference in content. Each group then represents a rumor and elements in each group is a message about the rumor. RESULTS 114 thousand messages were separated into 937 groups with at least 10 elements. Of the 936 rumors, 44.5% (417) were related to COVID-19. By studying 3 popular false COVID-19 rumors, we identified that key authoritative figures, mostly medical personnel, were often quoted in the messages. Also, rumors resurfaced multiple times after being fact-checked, and the resurfacing pattern were influenced by major societal events and successful content alterations, such as changing whom to quote in a message. CONCLUSIONS To fight infodemic, it is crucial that we first understand why and how a rumor becomes popular. While social media gives rise to unprecedented number of unverified rumors, it also provides a unique opportunity for us to study rumor propagations and the interactions with society. Therefore, we must put more effort in the areas.

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victória Prates Pasqualotto ◽  
Mariene Jaeger Riffel ◽  
Virgínia Leismann Moretto

ABSTRACT Objective: To describe and analyze the practices suggested in social media for the elaboration of Birth Plans, available on Blogs/Sites and not included in the WHO recommendations. Method: Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study with thematic analysis. A total of 41 e-mail addresses were selected for analysis among the 200 web addresses previously identified between March and July 2016. Three web addresses were in Portugal and the others in Brazil. Results: 48 practices not included in the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) were identified. Conclusion: Blogs/Websites, as means of transmission, circulation and production of knowledge, enable the horizontal expression of values, encourage women to plan the events considered important for their deliveries and put childbirth decisions on the hands of women, which has caused controversy in the discourse of humanization of childbirth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 475-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily K. Vraga ◽  
Melissa Tully ◽  
Leticia Bode

The World Health Organization has declared that misinformation shared on social media about Covid-19 is an “infodemic” that must be fought alongside the pandemic itself. We reflect on how news literacy and science literacy can provide a foundation to combat misinformation about Covid-19 by giving social media users the tools to identify, consume, and share high-quality information. These skills can be put into practice to combat the infodemic by amplifying quality information and actively correcting misinformation seen on social media. We conclude by considering the extent to which what we know about these literacies and related behaviors can be extended to less-researched areas like the Global South.


Author(s):  
Akash Dutt Dubey ◽  
Shreya Tripathi

With almost one third of the world on a lockdown, the corporates and the offices have now rapidly shifted to working from home. Since no specific treatment has been suggested by any medical institution so far, World Health Organization has recommended that the only possible solution to be safe is to self-isolate and stay home. Due to this, the world has come to a screeching halt and the businesses have to be shifted to remote work. Work-from-Home is a very new experience for most of us and hence the perception of the people ranges from being very excited to very hopeless. This study aims to examine the sentiments of the people regarding Work-from-Home concept by analysing twitter activities posted on social media. Total 100,000 tweets were analysed for this study. Results indicate that Work-from-Home concept was taken positively by the people. The emotions associated with most of the tweets were of trust and anticipation indicating that this concept is being welcomed by the people.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Caulfield

One of the defining characteristics of this pandemic has been the spread of misinformation. Indeed, the World Health Organization famously called the crisis not just a pandemic, but also an “infodemic.” Why and how misinformation spreads and has an impact on behaviours and beliefs is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. And there is an emerging rich academic literature on misinformation, particularly in the context of social media. Here, I focus on two relatively narrow questions: is debunking an effective strategy and, if so, what kind of counter-messaging is most effective? While the data remains complex and, at times, contradictory, there is little doubt that efforts to correct misinformation are worthwhile. In fact, fighting the spread of misinformation should be viewed as vitally important health and science policy priority.


2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (5S) ◽  
pp. 386-394
Author(s):  
Nadezhda A. Vosheva ◽  
Natalya N. Kamynina ◽  
Dmitriy V. V. Voshev ◽  
Yuriy A. Klimov

Introduction. On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization announced the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and medical workers appeared on the frontline in combating the new threat. Daily interactions with infected patients, extended working hours and psychological overload: all this makes healthcare professionals extremely vulnerable to a new danger. Therefore, the actual priority is to prevent the nosocomial spread of the disease and the protection of medical personnel. Aim exploration and generalization of Russian and international experience of COVID-19 pandemic combating in terms of creating the most efficient system of health workers protection against the infection, caused by a new virus SARS-CoV-2. Methods and materials. The systematic reviews and meta-analyzes reporting method (PRISMA) were used in the review. The search was carried out in the bibliographic databases Elibrary, PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar. Moreover, Russian and foreign methodological documents from the official websites of organizations were analyzed. Results. Examination of epidemiologically safe space organizing models in different countries showed that the majority of the existing in the world community approaches to protect medical personnel from contracting a new coronavirus infection are based on five basic strategies of infection prevention and control to prevent or limit the transmission of COVID-19 proposed by the World Health Organization. The article proposes a sixth strategy in addition to the above: psychological support for health workers. Conclusion. Effective use of the listed complex of six protective measures can minimize the risk of medical workers infection with coronavirus.


2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (07) ◽  
pp. 526-527

Coenen M et al. [Recommendation for the collection and analysis of data on participation and disability from the perspective of the World Health Organization]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 2016; 59: 1060–1067 Um eine gleichberechtigte Teilhabe an der Gesellschaft von Menschen mit Behinderung zu ermöglichen, werden zunächst Daten zu vorhandenen Einschränkungen gebraucht. Erst wenn diese detailliert erhoben wurden, können Konzepte zur Beseitigung von Problemen entwickelt werden. Ein standardisiertes Erhebungsinstrument für alle Aspekte der Funktionsfähigkeit fehlte jedoch bisher.


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