Background Social listening, the process of monitoring and analyzing conversations to inform communication activities, is an essential component of infodemic management. It helps inform context-specific communication strategies that are culturally acceptable and appropriate for various subpopulations. Social listening is based on the notion that target audiences themselves can best define their own information needs and messages. Objective This study aimed to describe the development of systematic social listening training for crisis communication and community outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic through a series of web-based workshops and to report the experiences of the workshop participants implementing the projects. Methods A multidisciplinary team of experts developed a series of web-based training sessions for individuals responsible for community outreach or communication among linguistically diverse populations. The participants had no previous training in systematic data collection or monitoring. This training aimed to provide participants with sufficient knowledge and skills to develop a social listening system based on their specific needs and available resources. The workshop design took into consideration the pandemic context and focused on qualitative data collection. Information on the experiences of the participants in the training was gathered based on participant feedback and their assignments and through in-depth interviews with each team. Results A series of 6 web-based workshops was conducted between May and September 2021. The workshops followed a systematic approach to social listening and included listening to web-based and offline sources; rapid qualitative analysis and synthesis; and developing communication recommendations, messages, and products. Follow-up meetings were organized between the workshops during which participants could share their achievements and challenges. Approximately 67% (4/6) of the participating teams established social listening systems by the end of the training. The teams tailored the knowledge provided during the training to their specific needs. As a result, the social systems developed by the teams had slightly different structures, target audiences, and aims. All resulting social listening systems followed the taught key principles of systematic social listening to collect and analyze data and used these new insights for further development of communication strategies. Conclusions This paper describes an infodemic management system and workflow based on qualitative inquiry and adapted to local priorities and resources. The implementation of these projects resulted in content development for targeted risk communication, addressing linguistically diverse populations. These systems can be adapted for future epidemics and pandemics.

Objective: We examined incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 vaccine uptake and factors associated with complete COVID-19 vaccine uptake among persons of migrant origin in Finland.Methods: Data on laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccine doses between March 2020 and November 2021 were linked to FinMonik register sample (n = 13,223) and MigCOVID (n = 3,668) survey data using unique personal identifier. Logistic regression was the main method of analyses.Results: Among FinMonik sample, complete COVID-19 vaccine uptake was lower among persons of Russia/former Soviet Union, Estonia, and rest of Africa and higher among persons of Southeast Asia, rest of Asia, and the Middle East/North Africa than among persons originating from Europe/North America/Oceania. Male sex, younger age, migration age (<18 years) and shorter length of residence were associated with lower vaccine uptake among FinMonik sample, whereas younger age, being economically inactive, poorer language skills, experiences of discrimination and psychological distress were associated with lower vaccine uptake among MigCOVID sub-sample.Conclusion: Our Findings point to a further need of tailored and targeted communication and community outreach strategies to increase vaccine uptake among persons of migrant origin.

Background: We examined incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 vaccine uptake and factors associated with complete COVID-19 vaccine uptake among persons of migrant origin in Finland. Methods: Data on laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccine doses between March 2020 and November 2021 were linked to FinMonik register sample (n=13,223) and MigCOVID (n=3,668) survey data using unique personal identifier. FinMonik and MigCOVID surveys were conducted among adults born outside Finland. Logistic regression was applied to examine the association of age, sex, age at migration, length of stay, level of education, economic activity, Finnish/Swedish language skills, psychological distress, experiences of discrimination, and self-rated health with vaccine uptake.Results: Among the total sample, complete COVID-19 vaccine uptake was lower among persons of Russia/former Soviet Union (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.61-0.76), Estonia (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.36-0.46), and rest of Africa (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.54-0.72) and higher among persons of Southeast Asia (OR 3.34, 95% CI 2.77-4.02), rest of Asia (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.65-2.19) and the Middle East/North Africa (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.25-1.60) than among persons originating from Europe/North America/Oceania. Male sex, younger age, migration age (<18 years) and shorter length of residence were associated with lower vaccine uptake among total sample, whereas younger age, being economically inactive, poorer language skills, experiences of discrimination and psychological distress were associated with lower vaccine uptake among MigCOVID sub-sample. Conclusion: Our Findings point to a further need of tailored and targeted communication and community outreach strategies to increase vaccine uptake among persons of migrant origin.

BACKGROUND Social listening, the process of monitoring and analyzing conversations to inform communication activities, is an essential component of infodemic management. It feeds into context-specific communication strategies that are culturally acceptable and appropriate for different sub-populations. Social listening is based on the notion that target audiences themselves can best define their own information needs and messages. OBJECTIVE To describe the development of a context-specific social listening process that is based on available financial and human resources and implemented during crisis situation METHODS Six organizations and governmental entities that communicate pandemic-related information to people from diverse cultural backgrounds were trained by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare to establish a social listening system. The training included four online workshops that aimed to provide participants with sufficient knowledge and skills to develop a social listening system based on their own needs and available resources. The workshops provided guidance on the organizational structure and the project cycle including data collection, analysis, and the use of findings to develop communication messages and products. During the workshops, project team members developed their own project structure and flow. RESULTS Four out of six organizations established social listening systems after the workshops, each with slightly different structures, target audiences, and aims. Nonetheless, all of them followed the social listening system to collect, analyze, and utilize community insights in communication. The core value of social listening, namely reliance on the perspectives of the laypeople, was well understood by all project groups. The dependence on qualitative data and reflecting it through knowledge co-creation were also well internalized. The projects were flexible, but at the same time also structured enough to have a functional system that effectively produced recommendations for risk communication purposes targeting culturally diverse populations. However, the lack of formalization of the project processes may hinder its sustainability. The projects will need to continue developing data collection and analysis processes to ensure that they are sufficiently credible and logistically simple enough to be implemented. CONCLUSIONS The social listening projects have shown that real-time social listening produces community insights that can be used to develop culturally appropriate communication messages and materials. Targeted messaging will result in more effective communications.