The COVID-19 Infodemic: Infodemiology Study Analyzing Stigmatizing Search Terms.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the context of the COVID-19 infodemic, the global profusion of monikers and hashtags for COVID-19 have found their way into daily communication and contributed to a backlash against China and the Chinese people.

Objective

This study examines public engagement in crisis communication about COVID-19 during the early epidemic stage and the practical strategy of social mobilization to mitigate the infodemic.

Methods

We retrieved the unbiased values of the top-ranked search phrases between December 30, 2019, and July 15, 2020, which normalized the anonymized, categorized, and aggregated samples from Google Search data. This study illustrates the most-searched terms, including the official COVID-19 terms, the stigmatized terms, and other controls, to measure t

SUBMITTER: Hu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7674145 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature