Highlights
- •News updates and personal opinions were the most common types of tweets about measles.
- •Individuals were more likely to discuss the severity of measles than other types of users.
- •Nonprofit organizations were more likely to offer cues to action than other users.
- •Media organizations were less likely to include cues to action than other user types.
- •Pro- and anti-vaccine tweets differed in terms of links to media sources.
Background
Social media not only provide platforms for the public to obtain information about
a disease but also allow them to share their opinions and experiences about it.
Methods
This study analyzed 3000 tweets systematically selected from over 1 million tweets
posted during the 2015 California measles outbreak.
Results
News updates were the most tweeted messages (41.4%), followed by personal opinions
(33.7%), resources (19.4%), personal experiences (2.5%), and questions (1.6%). Susceptibility
was the most discussed health belief (21.8%), followed by cues to action (18.9%) and
severity (13.0%). Individuals were significantly more likely to discuss severity.
Nonprofit organizations were significantly more likely to offer cues to action than
other user types, and media were less likely to include cues to action than other
user types. Pro-vaccine tweets were more likely to contain links to traditional mainstream
media sources such as newspapers and magazines, and anti-vaccine tweets were more
likely to link to emerging news websites.
Conclusions
Understanding who posts what on social media during an infectious disease outbreak
allows public health agencies to better assess the public's attitudes, sentiments,
and needs in order to provide timely and effective information.
Key Words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 29, 2019
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Funding/support: This study was partially funded by a University of Alabama System Collaborative Research Initiative Grant awarded to L.T.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
