Collective Response to Media Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Reddit and Wikipedia: Mixed-Methods Analysis

Abstract

Background The exposure and consumption of information during epidemic outbreaks may alter people’s risk perception and trigger behavioral changes, which can ultimately affect the evolution of the disease. It is thus of utmost importance to map the dissemination of information by mainstream media outlets and the public response to this information. However, our understanding of this exposure-response dynamic during the COVID-19 pandemic is still limited. Objective The goal of this study is to characterize the media coverage and collective internet response to the COVID-19 pandemic in four countries: Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. Methods We collected a heterogeneous data set including 227,768 web-based news articles and 13,448 YouTube videos published by mainstream media outlets, 107,898 user posts and 3,829,309 comments on the social media platform Reddit, and 278,456,892 views of COVID-19–related Wikipedia pages. To analyze the relationship between media coverage, epidemic progression, and users’ collective web-based response, we considered a linear regression model that predicts the public response for each country given the amount of news exposure. We also applied topic modelling to the data set using nonnegative matrix factorization. Results Our results show that public attention, quantified as user activity on Reddit and active searches on Wikipedia pages, is mainly driven by media coverage; meanwhile, this activity declines rapidly while news exposure and COVID-19 incidence remain high. Furthermore, using an unsupervised, dynamic topic modeling approach, we show that while the levels of attention dedicated to different topics by media outlets and internet users are in good accordance, interesting deviations emerge in their temporal patterns. Conclusions Overall, our findings offer an additional key to interpret public perception and response to the current global health emergency and raise questions about the effects of attention saturation on people’s collective awareness and risk perception and thus on their tendencies toward behavioral change.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A review

“…The third, the country of study and the references. Category Proxy data type Country and reference Adoption of NPI Mobile phones and/or vehicles through location intelligence and measurement platforms USA [367] , [368] , [369] , [370] , [371] , [372] Twitter Twitter population [373] , [374] Wikipedia and Reddit Canada, Italy, USA, UK [375] Google USA [376] ; 130 countries [377] TV USA [378] Mobility changes Mobile phones and/or vehicles through location intelligence and measurement platforms USA [37] , [38] , [379] , [380] Facebook Italy [39] Citymapper app 22 countries [381] …”

“…Here, we find articles aimed at quantifying the adoption of NPIs via proxy data such as mobile phones collected by location intelligence companies [367] , [368] , [369] , [370] , [371] , [372] , Twitter [373] , [374] , COVID-19 ad-hoc apps [196] , Wikipedia and Reddit [375] , Google [376] , [377] , and TV viewings [378] .…”

“…Authors in Ref. [375] study users attention to the COVID-19 emergency considering as proxy Wikipedia page views and discussion on Reddit. The results show how these were initially driven by media coverage (traditional media such as news articles and YouTube videos published by news organization).…”

Stigmatization of psychiatric and justice-involved populations during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This messaging may influence public perception of psychiatric and justice-involved populations and can have serious implications in the development of policies regarding public safety. A recent study found that public attention online was more likely to be driven by media coverage than data regarding the incidence rate of COVID-19 ( Gozzi et al, 2020 ). As emerging evidence indicates the influence of media coverage, it is crucial to evaluate how stigmatization of mental illness and justice-involved individuals may present within the media during COVID-19.…”

Aplicaciones médicas de las redes sociales. Aspectos específicos de la pandemia de la COVID-19

“…El cumplimiento de estas medidas está asociado a la percepción individual de riesgo y vulnerabilidad. Además, la información emitida por los medios de comunicación es capaz de dirigir el interés y el comportamiento de la población, por lo que es necesario que se difunda información veraz que fomente el cumplimiento de las medidas sanitarias 29 . Recientemente, se ha demostrado cómo las declaraciones de personajes famosos sobre tratamientos inapropiados para la COVID-19 produce un aumento significativo de la demanda de estos productos a pesar de la ausencia de demostración de su eficacia y, en algunos casos, incluso de su demostrado perjuicio 30 .…”