Assessing the role of social bots during the early COVID-19 pandemic: infodemic, disagreement and criticism (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Suarez-Lledo ◽  
Javier Alvarez-Galvez
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Modeling Techniques ◽  
General Tone

BACKGROUND Social media has changed the way we live and communicate. These tools are an unprecedented instrument that may lead to great opportunities for improving many aspects of our lives, including health promotion and disease prevention. However, social media also presents a dark side that is not always so evident as its possible benefits. In fact, social media has also opened the door to new social and health risks that are linked to health misinformation. OBJECTIVE This work aims to study the role of social media bots during the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS We use Twitter Stream API to collect tweets about Covid-19 during the early outbreak. Then, we use Botometer to obtain the probability that each account is a bot or not. We use bot classification along with topic modeling techniques to understand the Twitter conversation. Finally, we compare the sentiment associated with the tweets regarding the source of the tweet. RESULTS With respect to the topics of conversation, we found notable differences between the different accounts. The content associated with no-bots accounts is associated with the evolution of the pandemic, support, and advice. On the other hand, in the case of self-declared bots, the content is mostly news. That is the existence of diagnostic tests, the evolution of the pandemic, scientific findings. Finally, in the case of bots, the content is mostly political. Above all, a general tone of criticism and disagreement predominates. In relation to sentiment analysis, the biggest differences are associated with the tone of the conversation. Conversation in the case of self-declared bots tends to be neutral. While the conversation of normal users scores positively. In contrast, bots tend to score negatively. CONCLUSIONS By classifying the accounts according to the probability of being bots together with topic modeling we were able to segment the Twitter conversation about Covid. The tone of messages written by non-bots accounts tends to be more positive than the former. On the contrary, the tone of non-declared bots is always more negative than the tone of self-declared ones.

Covid-19 – rumours and facts in media

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 171-174
Author(s):  
Tarare Toshida ◽  
Chaple Jagruti
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
The People ◽  
The World

The covid-19 resulted in broad range of spread throughout the world in which India has also became a prey of it and in this situation the means of media is extensively inϑluencing the mentality of the people. Media always played a role of loop between society and sources of information. In this epidemic also media is playing a vital role in shaping the reaction in ϑirst place for both good and ill by providing important facts regarding symptoms of Corona virus, preventive measures against the virus and also how to deal with any suspect of disease to overcome covid-19. On the other hand, there are endless people who spread endless rumours overs social media and are adversely affecting life of people but we always count on media because they provide us with valuable answers to our questions, facts and everything in need. Media always remains on top of the line when it comes to stop the out spread of rumours which are surely dangerous kind of information for society. So on our side we should react fairly and maturely to handle the situation to keep it in the favour of humanity and help government not only to ϑight this pandemic but also the info emic.

The Role of Customer Engagement in the COVID-19 Era

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-116
Author(s):  
Sara Santos ◽  
Pedro Espírito Santo ◽  
Luísa Augusto
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Other ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Brand Attachment ◽  
Brand Engagement ◽  
Brand Relationship ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Multidimensional Concept

Costumer engagement is a multidimensional concept which develops over the time and is widely studied in the literature of marketing. Consumers attached to the brand tend to be more involved in behaviors that support the brand. On the other side, brand-self connection is an important element in consumer-brand relationship being part of brand attachment, where social media have a special role. Playfulness and informativeness of video have a significant impact on the value of social media ads, and the authors present the relationship between these two variables and customer engagement. The study will present an investigation with 235 Portuguese individuals during the months of confinement justified by the pandemic COVID-19. The results show that customer engagement depends on informativeness, playfulness, and brand-self connection. Throughout this empirical study, they show that social media brand engagement is explained by these variables. This chapter enhances knowledge on costumer engagement, brand-self connection, and video informativeness and playfulness, supporting new researches in this topic.

scholarly journals Untangling Truth, Facts, and Opinions: Why Simple Tenets of Science Have Become Uneasy

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Terry
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
Time Magazine ◽  
Research Education ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Persuasive Communications ◽  
Health Initiative

TIME magazine selected “The Guardians and the War on Truth” as their 2018 “Person of the Year.” Journalists everywhere urge us to remember writer Jamal Khashoggi’s murder as a harsh testament to the risks of speaking truth to power. But Khashoggi was a perceived threat to a totalitarian government, surely truth is more respected in America, right? Suggest that to the Columbia University School of Law who built a “silencing science tracker” to document “government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research, education or discussion.” In this editorial, I argue that researchers who publish their scientific findings in peer-reviewed journals must also embrace the role of “guardians” against the growing assaults on science. In an era where the majority of Americans get their health information via social media, our challenge as scientists is to transcend our basic calling as truth seekers and truth tellers. Closely aligned with this truth guardian’s work in health promotion is the True Health Initiative, a cohort of renowned scientists dedicated to offering “clarity over confusion”; they “work to spread the fundamental evidence and consensus-based truths about lifestyle as medicine.” When purveyors of falsehoods have such unfettered channels as they do today, my hope for scientists and for this journal is that we grow our ambitions relating to curating facts, authoritative dissemination, and persuasive communications alongside our usual work of learning and teaching.

scholarly journals Zelensky's Image in Russian and Ukrainian News: Presidential Campaign 2019 in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1(28)) ◽  
pp. 62-76
Author(s):  
Katrin Dkhair ◽  
Polina Klochko
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Presidential Campaign ◽  
The Other ◽  
Electoral Campaign ◽  
History Of ◽  
Academic Resources

The work explores the portrayal of the sixth president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Russian and Ukrainian media sources during the pre-electoral campaign in 2019. The study used network analysis, n-grams’ generation, and LDA-based topic modeling. The study reveals that Russia’s media focused on Zelensky as a media personality, while Ukrainian sources paid attention to the portrayal of a novel popular politician. The target audience of the candidate’s campaign was the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine. Media in Ukraine’s native language were more inclined to mention elections, the role of the other candidate Petro Poroshenko and the nationalist mood, while defining Zelensky as just an ordinary candidate in an electoral race. The article is based on academic resources concerning the history of the development of political and media contexts in Ukraine, paying particular attention to agenda-setting, framing and priming techniques, and the personality of Volodymyr Zelensky.

scholarly journals The Role of Technology and Social Media in Spreading the Qur'an and Hadiths by Mubalig

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hidayaturrahman ◽  
D.I Ansusa Putra
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Other ◽  
Lecture Material ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
To Come ◽  
Religious Material ◽  
Propagation Material

This research was conducted to find out how the role of technology and social media in spreading Al-Quran and hadith by the mubalig. This research uses qualitative descriptive approach, while the method of collecting data with observation on the activities of the mubalig and dai who perform religious da’wa activities, both in mosques, langgar, and majlis taklim assemblies held at homes of pilgrims or mubalig house. This research found that, mubalig already flat using technology and social media for the purposes of their da’wah. The preachers use technology and social media for various purposes of da’wa, communicating with the congregation of recitation, to read references of religious material, as well as as a means to store the propagation material which subsequently submitted during the recitation. The last is to make existing apps their devices to recall verses or hadiths that happen to be forgotten when delivering lecture material. The mubalig rate, technology and social media are something positive to use as a medium of communication preaching. So that mubalig are not allergic to technology and social media, even some of them become active users in social media. Similarly, in his own devices there are many applications of the Qur'an and Hadith. Carrying a device is an effective way of learning, carrying the reference of the book, because it does not have to bring a large book of physical to come preach to various places and locations. Technology is considered to be able to connect them with the other ustaz, kiai or religious figures in the same or different organization.

scholarly journals A survey of social media use in emergency situations: A literature review

2020 ◽  
pp. 026666692091389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Najeeb Gambo Abdulhamid ◽  
Daniel Azerikatoa Ayoung ◽  
Armin Kashefi ◽  
Boyce Sigweni
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
The Other ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Research Stream ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Areas Of Interest

This study reviews literature on the use of Social Media (SM) in emergency response operations while identifying gaps in this research stream that need attention from Information Systems (IS) researchers. The research is grounded in past works and attempts to build on research on the application of SM in emergencies. It focuses on understanding the role of SM in the prevention, management and response to emergencies. The review contains a detailed literature exposition of IS and disasters journals. The appraisal of such research stream led the review to focus on the concept of digital volunteerism as an offshoot of crowdsourcing initiatives. Findings from the review reveal that previous studies overlooked the interfacing challenges between formal and traditional aid agencies on one hand and digital humanitarians on the other. Consequently, we identify gaps in the extant literature and propose areas of interest for future research.

Children’s cancer narratives on YouTube: Agency and entrepreneurship in Brazilian CarecaTV

2020 ◽  
pp. 204361062096701
Author(s):  
Lidia Marôpo ◽  
Raiana de Carvalho ◽  
Ana Jorge
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Brain Cancer ◽  
The Other ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
The One

This article looks at the social and cultural contexts of children’s experiences of illness, through a particular focus on the context of the Global South and the role of the social media platform YouTube in children’s culture. It takes a socio-constructivist approach to discuss the case of CarecaTV (BaldTV), a Brazilian YouTube channel with more than one million followers created by Lorena Reginato at the age of 12 when she was recovering from brain cancer. In CarecaTV, cancer subjectivity co-exists with and is expressed through digital commercialization. On the one hand, through this process, Lorena Reginato gains agency as she offers an inspirational and credible first-person testimony about cancer during childhood and becomes an emerging cancer activist. On the other, she uses entrepreneurship strategies associated with the digital influencer model of YouTube to promote herself as a (cancer) micro-celebrity, taking the lead in a youthful and playful culture.

scholarly journals Transfer Learning with Social Media Content in the Ride-Hailing Domain by Using a Hybrid Machine Learning Architecture

Electronics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Álvaro de Pablo ◽  
Oscar Araque ◽  
Carlos A. Iglesias
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Transfer Learning ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Learning From Data ◽  
Modeling Techniques ◽  
Hybrid Machine ◽  
Vector Representations ◽  
Google Play

The analysis of the content of posts written on social media has established an important line of research in recent years. The study of these texts, as well as their relationship with each other and their dependence on the platform on which they are written, enables the behavior analysis of users and their opinions with respect to different domains. In this work, a hybrid machine learning-based system has been developed to classify texts using topic modeling techniques and different word-vector representations, as well as traditional text representations. The system has been trained with ride-hailing posts extracted from Reddit, showing promising performance. Then, the generated models have been tested with data extracted from other sources such as Twitter and Google Play, classifying these texts without retraining any models and thus performing Transfer Learning. The obtained results show that our proposed architecture is effective when performing Transfer Learning from data-rich domains and applying them to other sources.

scholarly journals Korean roleplayer dan dampaknya terhadap kepribadian di dunia nyata (studi kasus pada remaja)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dewi Hapsari
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Real World ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Real

K-pop culture in Indonesia has mushroomed among teenagers and of course it makes teenagers want to be able to communicate more closely with their idols. The role of the fans was shown through several things one of which is by playing roleplayer on Twitter. The purpose of this study is that through roleplayers fans can represent their idols according to what they expect in their daily lives through social media twitter. This study uses a qualitative method by observing case studies that examine the virtual world of roleplayers, the results of this study are fans doing roleplaying activities to fulfill the fanaticism of the idol to fulfill his desire to represent themselves and create a new virtual identity in cyberspace. The result is unwittingly this rolepayer activity also changes the personality of the culprit in the real world created by his imagination because of playing roleplayer too often, but on the other hand this roleplayer game also brings a positive impact on the culprit. with this article it is hoped that roleplayer can be more careful in representing themselves as other people in cyberspace because it will affect their personalities in the real world.

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