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Trust and Engagement on Twitter During the Management of COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effect of Gender and Position.

ABSTRACT: During the COVID-19 pandemic, health and political leaders have attempted to update citizens using Twitter. Here, we examined the difference between environments that social media has provided for male/female or health/political leaders to interact with people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The comparison was made based on the content of posts and public responses to those posts as well as user-level and post-level metrics. Our findings suggest that although health officers and female leaders generated more contents on Twitter, political leaders and male authorities were more active in building networks. Offensive language was used more frequently toward males than females and toward political leaders than health leaders. The public also used more appreciation keywords toward health leaders than politicians, while more judgmental and economy-related keywords were used toward politicians. Overall, depending on the gender and position of leaders, Twitter provided them with different environments to communicate and manage the pandemic.

SUBMITTER: Yousefinaghani S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9014168 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Trust and Engagement on Twitter During the Management of COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effect of Gender and Position.

Yousefinaghani Samira S Dara Rozita R MacKay Melissa M Papadopoulos Andrew A Sharif Shayan S

Frontiers in sociology 20220404

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health and political leaders have attempted to update citizens using Twitter. Here, we examined the difference between environments that social media has provided for male/female or health/political leaders to interact with people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The comparison was made based on the content of posts and public responses to those posts as well as user-level and post-level metrics. Our findings suggest that although health officers and female leaders gen ...[more]

PMID: 35445107

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Project description:BackgroundDuring a public health crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, governments and health authorities need quick and accurate methods of communicating with the public. While social media can serve as a useful tool for effective communication during disease outbreaks, few studies have elucidated how these platforms are used by the Ministry of Health (MOH) during disease outbreaks in Saudi Arabia.ObjectiveGuided by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication model, this study aimed to explore the MOH's use of Twitter and the public's engagement during different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.MethodsTweets and corresponding likes and retweets were extracted from the official Twitter account of the MOH in Saudi Arabia for the period of January 1 through August 31, 2020. Tweets related to COVID-19 were identified; subsequently, content analysis was performed, in which tweets were coded for the following message types: risk messages, warnings, preparations, uncertainty reduction, efficacy, reassurance, and digital health responses. Public engagement was measured by examining the numbers of likes and retweets. The association between outbreak stages and types of messages was assessed, as well as the effect of these messages on public engagement.ResultsThe MOH posted a total of 1393 original tweets during the study period. Of the total tweets, 1293 (92.82%) were related to COVID-19, and 1217 were ultimately included in the analysis. The MOH posted the majority of its tweets (65.89%) during the initial stage of the outbreak. Accordingly, the public showed the highest level of engagement (as indicated by numbers of likes and retweets) during the initial stage. The types of messages sent by the MOH significantly differed across outbreak stages, with messages related to uncertainty reduction, reassurance, and efficacy being prevalent among all stages. Tweet content, media type, and crisis stage influenced the level of public engagement. Engagement was negatively associated with the inclusion of hyperlinks and multimedia files, while higher level of public engagement was associated with the use of hashtags. Tweets related to warnings, uncertainty reduction, and reassurance received high levels of public engagement.ConclusionsThis study provides insights into the Saudi MOH's communication strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results have implications for researchers, governments, health organizations, and practitioners with regard to their communication practices during outbreaks. To increase public engagement, governments and health authorities should consider the public's need for information. This, in turn, could raise public awareness regarding disease outbreaks.

Project description:Transit providers have used social media (e.g., Twitter) as a powerful platform to shape public perception and provide essential information, especially during times of disruption and disaster. This work examines how transit agencies used Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic to communicate with riders and how the content and general activity influence rider interaction and Twitter handle popularity. We analyzed 654,345 tweets generated by the top 40 transit agencies in the US, based on Vehicles Operated in Annual Maximum Service (VOM), from January 2020 to August 2021. We developed an analysis framework, using advanced machine learning and natural language processing models, to understand how agencies’ tweeting patterns are associated with rider interaction outcomes during the pandemic. From the transit agency perspective, we find smaller agencies tend to generate a higher percentage of COVID-related tweets and some agencies are more repetitive than their peers. Six topics (i.e., face covering, essential service appreciation, free resources, social distancing, cleaning, and service updates) were identified in the COVID-related tweets. From the followers’ interaction perspective, most agencies gained followers after the start of the pandemic (i.e., March 2020). The percentage of follower gains is positively correlated with the percentage of COVID-related tweets, tweets replying to followers, and tweets using outlinks. The average like counts per COVID-related tweet is positively correlated with the percentage of COVID-related tweets and negatively correlated with the percentage of tweets discussing social distancing and agency repetitiveness. This work can inform transportation planners and transit agencies on how to use Twitter to effectively communicate with riders to improve public perception of health and safety as it relates to transit ridership during delays and long-term disruptions such as those created by the COVID-19 public health crisis.

Dataset Information

Trust and Engagement on Twitter During the Management of COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effect of Gender and Position.

Publications

Trust and Engagement on Twitter During the Management of COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effect of Gender and Position.

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