scholarly journals Framing of and Attention to COVID-19 on Twitter: Thematic Analysis of Hashtags (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Tahamtan ◽  
Devendra Potnis ◽  
Ehsan Mohammadi ◽  
Laura E Miller ◽  
Vandana Singh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Past Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public

BACKGROUND Although past research has focused on COVID-19–related frames in the news media, such research may not accurately capture and represent the perspectives of people from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, research on the public attention to COVID-19 as reflected through frames on social media is scarce. OBJECTIVE This study identified the frames about the COVID-19 pandemic in the public discourse on Twitter, which voices diverse opinions. This study also investigated the amount of public attention to those frames on Twitter. METHODS We collected 22 trending hashtags related to COVID-19 in the United States and 694,582 tweets written in English containing these hashtags in March 2020 and analyzed them via thematic analysis. Public attention to these frames was measured by evaluating the amount of public engagement with frames and public adoption of those frames. RESULTS We identified 9 frames including “public health guidelines,” “quarantine life,” “solidarity,” “evidence and facts,” “call for action,” “politics,” “post-pandemic life,” “shortage panic,” and “conflict.” Results showed that some frames such as “call for action” are more appealing than others during a global pandemic, receiving greater public adoption and engagement. The “call for action” frame had the highest engagement score, followed by “conflict” and “evidence and facts.” Additionally, “post-pandemic life” had the highest adoption score, followed by “call for action” and “shortage panic.” The findings indicated that the frequency of a frame on social media does not necessarily mean greater public adoption of or engagement with the frame. CONCLUSIONS This study contributes to framing theory and research by demonstrating how trending hashtags can be used as new user-generated data to identify frames on social media. This study concludes that the identified frames such as “quarantine life” and “conflict” and themes such as “isolation” and “toilet paper panic” represent the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences could be (1) exclusively related to COVID-19, such as hand hygiene or isolation; (2) related to any health crisis such as social support of vulnerable groups; and (3) generic that are irrespective of COVID-19, such as homeschooling or remote working.

Can Indian journalism survive the onslaught of social media?

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha M Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Effective Use

In recent times, researchers have examined the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of social media to directly connect with his followers, while largely shunning the mainstream media. This strategy of direct communication with their constituents has been adopted by other political parties too, with opposition party leaders hosting ‘Facebook Live’ sessions and tweeting their messages. A large proportion of Indian voters, who increasingly own mobile phones, are enjoying being part of the ‘like’ and ‘share’ online networks. What does this effective use of social media by Indian political parties mean for the public discourse in India? This article presents the view that this phenomenon is more than Modi’s ‘selfie nationalism’ or his attempt to marginalize the news media. The article argues that there is a structural shift in the Indian public sphere, which might prove to be the greatest challenge to Indian journalism.

WHITE RESPONSE TO BLACK DEATH

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Hannah Walker ◽  
Loren Collingwood ◽  
Tehama Lopez Bunyasi
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Black Death ◽  
White People ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Crisis ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Levels Of Support

Abstract In the United States, Blacks overwhelmingly bear the brunt of gun violence. While Blacks are more likely to favor gun restrictions than are Whites, the influence of Black gun death on Whites’ attitudes about gun control has not been investigated. We advance a theory to explain White response to Black firearm fatalities: Black gun death is explicitly and implicitly racialized in the public discourse and imagination. The roots of the gun control debate are themselves likewise racialized, and portrayals of Black gun death has the potential to tap latent racial biases among Whites. As a consequence, exposure to routinized Black gun death either fails to move White opinion, or moves Whites to greater support for gun rights. The influence of race on White public opinion is particularly concerning in an era when health officials consider gun death a public health crisis. First, we evaluate this theory with a regression discontinuity (RDD) analysis of the effects of a highly salient gun death of a young Black boy in Chicago on Whites’ opinions about gun control. Relative to White people interviewed before the death, White people interviewed after the death record greater opposition to gun control. Second, we fielded a survey experiment, exposing respondents to the reported gun homicide of either Black or White thirteen-year-old boys. Relative to a control, respondents in the Black death condition are unmoved, whereas respondents in the White death condition report greater levels of support for gun control. Implications are discussed.

scholarly journals PUBLIC REACTION TO COVID-19 ON TWITTER: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS

2020 ◽  
pp. 349-358
Author(s):  
Akif Mustafa ◽  
Imaduddin Ansari ◽  
Subham Kumar Mohanta ◽  
Shalem Balla
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
The Public ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Public Reaction

Emergency situations typically lead to a plethora of public attention on social media platforms like ‘Twitter’. Twitter provides a unique opportunity for public health researchers to analyze untampered information shared during a disease outbreak. Considering the ongoing public health emergency, we conducted a study investigating the public reaction to COVID-19 pandemic around the world using in-depth thematic analysis of Twitter data. A dataset of 212846 tweets was retrieved over a period of seven days (from April 13, 2020, to April 19, 2020) via Twitter Application Programme Interface (API). The following five keywords were used to collect the tweets: “coronavirus”, “covid-19”, “corona”, “covid”, “covid19”. After data filtering and cleaning 6348 tweets were randomly selected for in-depth thematic analysis. Thematic analysis was done manually using a two-level coding guide. A total of six main themes emerged from the analysis: ‘sentiments and feelings’, ‘Information’, ‘General Discussion’, ‘Politics’, ‘Food’, and ‘Sarcasm or humor’. The aforementioned themes were divided into 26 sub-themes. The results of the thematic analysis show that 30.1% of the tweets were regarding ‘sentiments and feelings’, 15.6% were regarding ‘politics’, and 6.5% were related to ‘sarcasm or humor’. The present study is the first study that has analyzed the public response to COVID-19 on Twitter. The study demonstrates that social media platforms (like Twitter) can be used to conduct infodemiological studies related to public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that the results of this study will be of potential interest to policymakers, health authorities, stakeholders, and public health and social science researchers. KEYWORDS:COVID-19, Twitter, Social Media, Coronavirus, Lockdown, Pandemic

scholarly journals Public Discourse Against Masks in the COVID-19 Era: Infodemiology Study of Twitter Data

10.2196/26780 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e26780
Author(s):  
Mohammad Al-Ramahi ◽  
Ahmed Elnoshokaty ◽  
Omar El-Gayar ◽  
Tareq Nasralah ◽  
Abdullah Wahbeh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Population Control ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Relationship

Background Despite scientific evidence supporting the importance of wearing masks to curtail the spread of COVID-19, wearing masks has stirred up a significant debate particularly on social media. Objective This study aimed to investigate the topics associated with the public discourse against wearing masks in the United States. We also studied the relationship between the anti-mask discourse on social media and the number of new COVID-19 cases. Methods We collected a total of 51,170 English tweets between January 1, 2020, and October 27, 2020, by searching for hashtags against wearing masks. We used machine learning techniques to analyze the data collected. We investigated the relationship between the volume of tweets against mask-wearing and the daily volume of new COVID-19 cases using a Pearson correlation analysis between the two-time series. Results The results and analysis showed that social media could help identify important insights related to wearing masks. The results of topic mining identified 10 categories or themes of user concerns dominated by (1) constitutional rights and freedom of choice; (2) conspiracy theory, population control, and big pharma; and (3) fake news, fake numbers, and fake pandemic. Altogether, these three categories represent almost 65% of the volume of tweets against wearing masks. The relationship between the volume of tweets against wearing masks and newly reported COVID-19 cases depicted a strong correlation wherein the rise in the volume of negative tweets led the rise in the number of new cases by 9 days. Conclusions These findings demonstrated the potential of mining social media for understanding the public discourse about public health issues such as wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results emphasized the relationship between the discourse on social media and the potential impact on real events such as changing the course of the pandemic. Policy makers are advised to proactively address public perception and work on shaping this perception through raising awareness, debunking negative sentiments, and prioritizing early policy intervention toward the most prevalent topics.

scholarly journals Temporal and textual analysis of social media on collective discourses during the Zika virus pandemic

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Oo Lwin ◽  
Jiahui Lu ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
Ysa Marie Cayabyab ◽  
Zi Han Yee Andrew ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Health Event ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background While existing studies have investigated the role of social media on health-related communication, little is known about the potential differences between different users groups on different social media platforms in responses to a health event. This study sets out to explore the online discourse of governmental authorities and the public in Singapore during the recent Zika pandemic in 2016. Methods Social media data were extracted from Facebook and Twitter using retroactive keyword sourcing of the word “Zika” to search for posts and a location filter of “Singapore”. Government posts, public posts, and replies to these original posts were included in the temporal and textual analysis. Results Overall, Facebook contained more government and individual content whereas Twitter had more content from news media accounts. Though the relative volume of Zika content from different data sources paralleled the peaks and troughs of Zika activities across time, discourses from different data sources differed in their temporal patterns, such that the public discourse died down faster than the government discourse after the outbreak was declared. In addition, the content of discourses differed among data sources. While government discourse included factual information of the disease, public discourse contained more elements of care such as worry about the risks to pregnant women, and elements of community such as well-wishes to each other. Conclusions Our study demonstrates the temporal and content differences between user groups and social media platforms in social media conversations during the Zika pandemic. It suggests that future research should examine the collective discourse of a health event by investigating social media discourses within varied sources rather than focusing on a singular social media platform and by one particular type of user.

scholarly journals Temporal and textual analysis of social media on collective discourses during the Zika virus pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Oo Lwin ◽  
Jiahui Lu ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
Ysa Marie Cayabyab ◽  
Andrew Yee Zi Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Health Event ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background: While existing studies have investigated the role of social media on health-related communication, little is known about the potential differences between different users groups on different social media platforms in responses to a health event. This study sets out to explore the online discourse of governmental authorities and the public in Singapore during the recent Zika pandemic in 2016. Methods: Social media data were extracted from Facebook and Twitter using retroactive keyword sourcing of the word “Zika” to search for posts and a location filter of “Singapore”. Government posts, public posts, and replies to these original posts were included in the temporal and textual analysis. Results: Overall, Facebook contained more government and individual content whereas Twitter had more content from news media accounts. Though the relative volume of Zika content from different data sources paralleled the peaks and troughs of Zika activities across time, discourses from different data sources differed in their temporal patterns, such that the public discourse died down faster than the government discourse after the outbreak was declared. In addition, the content of discourses differed among data sources. While government discourse included factual information of the disease, public discourse contained more elements of care such as worry about the risks to pregnant women, and elements of community such as well-wishes to each other. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the temporal and content differences between user groups and social media platforms in social media conversations during the Zika pandemic. It suggests that future research should examine the collective discourse of a health event by investigating social media discourses within varied sources rather than focusing on a singular social media platform and by one particular type of users.

Lügenpresse: The lying press and German journalists’ responses to a stigma

Journalism ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 146488491989408
Author(s):  
Michael Koliska ◽  
Karin Assmann
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online News ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Institutional Strategies

The term Lügenpresse, ‘lying press’, was used by the German National Socialist Party before and during the Third Reich to discredit the news media and to undermine public trust. By 2014, reports of verbal and physical attacks on journalists and news organizations by individuals calling them Lügenpresse, had again become a frequent feature of the public discourse in Germany. While the term ‘fake news’ is used to similar effect and intent in the United States, Lügenpresse is a historically and politically charged expression of distrust in news media on an institutional level. This research examines the responses and institutional strategies of 27 news editors and executive editors in Germany’s leading broadcast, print and online news organizations to the accusations that they are lying to their audiences. Findings indicate that the reemergence of the term Lügenpresse, has led to considerable self-reflection within institutions, in an effort to counter the lack of trust and to demonstratively better serve the public. The main focus across newsrooms is on improving established processes and on making professional standards and practices more visible to the audience.

scholarly journals Turning Words Into Consumer Preferences: How Sentiment Analysis Is Framed in Research and the News Media

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630511879772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelius Puschmann ◽  
Alison Powell
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Attention Economy ◽  
The Social

Sentiment analysis is an increasingly popular instrument for the analysis of social media discourse. Sentiment scores seemingly represent an objective means of assessing the mood of social media users, consumers, and the public at large. Similar to other computational tools, sentiment analysis promises to reduce complexity and mitigate information overload, and to inform the decisions of marketers, pollsters, and scholars with reliable data. This article argues that the assumptions encoded into sentiment analysis as a method are accompanied by a number of constraints, both regarding its technical limitations (in terms of what sentiment analysis can and cannot accomplish) and conceptually (in terms of what the notion of sentiment implicitly represents), constraints which are often de-emphasized in public discourse. After providing an overview of its history and development in computer science as well as psychology and the social sciences, we turn to the role of sentiment as a currency in the attention economy. We then present a brief study of common framing of sentiment analysis in the news media, highlighting the expectations that exist regarding its analytical capabilities. We close by discussing the kind of conceptual work that takes place around computational methods such as sentiment analysis in specific cultural environments, highlighting their influence on the public imaginary.

scholarly journals Public Discourse Against Masks in the COVID-19 Era: Infodemiology Study of Twitter Data (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Al-Ramahi ◽  
Ahmed Elnoshokaty ◽  
Omar El-Gayar ◽  
Tareq Nasralah ◽  
Abdullah Wahbeh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Population Control ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Relationship

BACKGROUND Despite scientific evidence supporting the importance of wearing masks to curtail the spread of COVID-19, wearing masks has stirred up a significant debate particularly on social media. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the topics associated with the public discourse against wearing masks in the United States. We also studied the relationship between the anti-mask discourse on social media and the number of new COVID-19 cases. METHODS We collected a total of 51,170 English tweets between January 1, 2020, and October 27, 2020, by searching for hashtags against wearing masks. We used machine learning techniques to analyze the data collected. We investigated the relationship between the volume of tweets against mask-wearing and the daily volume of new COVID-19 cases using a Pearson correlation analysis between the two-time series. RESULTS The results and analysis showed that social media could help identify important insights related to wearing masks. The results of topic mining identified 10 categories or themes of user concerns dominated by (1) constitutional rights and freedom of choice; (2) conspiracy theory, population control, and big pharma; and (3) fake news, fake numbers, and fake pandemic. Altogether, these three categories represent almost 65% of the volume of tweets against wearing masks. The relationship between the volume of tweets against wearing masks and newly reported COVID-19 cases depicted a strong correlation wherein the rise in the volume of negative tweets led the rise in the number of new cases by 9 days. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrated the potential of mining social media for understanding the public discourse about public health issues such as wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results emphasized the relationship between the discourse on social media and the potential impact on real events such as changing the course of the pandemic. Policy makers are advised to proactively address public perception and work on shaping this perception through raising awareness, debunking negative sentiments, and prioritizing early policy intervention toward the most prevalent topics.

Kim Kardashian: the Leader of the Influencers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laila Fariha Zein ◽  
Adib Rifqi Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Armenian Genocide ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Global Commerce ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
International Issues ◽  
Global Influence

In today’s world, it is easier and easier to stay connected with people who are halfway across the world. Social media and a globalizing economy have created new methods of business, trade and socialization resulting in vast amounts of communication and effecting global commerce. Like her or hate her, Kimberly Noel Kardashian West as known as Kim Kardashian has capitalized on social media platforms and the globalizing economy. Kim is known for two things: famous for doing nothing and infamous for a sex tape. But Kim has not let those things define her. With over 105 million Instagram followers and 57 million Twitter followers, Kim has become a major global influence. Kim has travelled around the world, utilizing the success she has had on social media to teach make-up master classes with professional make-up artist, Mario Dedivanovic. She owns or has licensed several different businesses including: an emoji app, a personal app, a gaming app, a cosmetics line, and a fragrance line. Not to be forgotten, the Kardashian family show, ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ has been on the air for ten years with Kim at the forefront. Kim also has three books: ‘Kardashian Konfidential’, ‘Dollhouse’, and ‘Selfish’. With her rising social media following, Kim has used the platforms to show her support for politicians and causes, particularly, recognition of the Armenian genocide. Kim also recently spoke at the Forbes’ women’s summit. Following the summit, Kim tweeted out her support for a recent movement on Twitter, #freeCyntoiaBrown which advocated for a young woman who claimed to have shot and killed the man who held her captive as a teenage sex slave in self-defense. Kim had her own personal lawyers help out Cyntoia on her case. Kim has also moved beyond advocating for issues within the confines of the United States. As mentioned earlier, she is known for advocating for recognition of the Armenian genocide. In the last two years, her show has made it a point to address the Armenian situation as it was then and as it is now. Kim has been recognized as a global influencer by others across the wordl. We believe Kim has become the same as political leaders when it comes to influencing the public. Kim’s story reveals that the new reality creates a perfect opportunity for mass disturbances or for initiating mass support or mass disapproval. Although Kim is typically viewed for her significance to pop culture, Kim’s business and social media following have placed her deep into the mix of international commerce. As her businesses continue to grow and thrive, we may see more of her influence on international issues and an increase in the commerce from which her businesses benefit.

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