Grappling With the COVID-19 Health Crisis: Content Analysis of Communication Strategies and Their Effects on Public Engagement on Social Media.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has posed an unprecedented challenge to governments worldwide. Effective government communication of COVID-19 information with the public is of crucial importance.

Objective

We investigate how the most-read state-owned newspaper in China, People's Daily, used an online social networking site, Sina Weibo, to communicate about COVID-19 and whether this could engage the public. The objective of this study is to develop an integrated framework to examine the content, message style, and interactive features of COVID-19-related posts and determine their effects on public engagement in the largest social media network in China.

Methods

Content analysis was employed to scrutinize 608 COVID-19 posts, and coding was performed on thr

SUBMITTER: Ngai CSB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7446717 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature