Information-Sharing and Community-Building: Exploring the Use of Twitter in Science Public Relations

Su, Leona Yi-Fan; Scheufele, Dietram A.; Bell, Larry; Brossard, Dominique; Xenos, Michael A.

doi:10.1177/1075547017734226

Cited by 69 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This software has been successfully applied not only to examinations of dominant themes or most-discussed subtopics surrounding specific issues but also to analyses of a wide range of abstract sentiments, such as valence and uncertainty that are embedded in social media posts (e.g. Ceron et al, 2014;Jamal et al, 2015;Su et al, 2017aSu et al, , 2017b. Four types of news sources were included in this study's ForSight analysis:…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncivil and personal? Comparing patterns of incivility in comments on the Facebook pages of news outlets

Xenos

Rose

et al. 2018

New Media & Society

Self Cite

128

102

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Social media and its embedded user commentary are playing increasingly influential roles in the news process. However, researchers' understanding of the social media commenting environment remains limited, despite rising concerns over uncivil comments. Accordingly, this study used a supervised machine learning-based method of content analysis to examine the extent and patterns of incivility in the comment sections of 42 US news outlets' Facebook pages over an 18-month period in 2015-2016. These outlets were selected as being broadly representative of national, local, conservative, and liberalnews media. The findings provide the first empirical evidence that both the level and the targets of incivility in the comments posted on news outlets' Facebook pages vary greatly according to such entities' general type and ideological stance.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncivil and personal? Comparing patterns of incivility in comments on the Facebook pages of news outlets

Xenos

Rose

et al. 2018

New Media & Society

Self Cite

128

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In today's dynamic science communication landscape, social media tools are proliferating and escalating in popularity, and are increasingly interwoven with traditional communication platforms, both inside and outside of science (Allgaier et al 2013;Su et al 2017). These global trends in the science communication ecosystem are equally evident in South Twitter users in the country who are tweeting about research articles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting to Know Science Tweeters: A Pilot Analysis of South African Twitter Users Tweeting about Research Articles

Joubert¹,

Costas

2019

joa

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Against the backdrop of the increasing relevance of social media in public science communication and engagement, this study aimed to expand our understanding of the relationships and interactions between social media users and scientific outputs. In order to do so, we explored the identities, characteristics and activities of South African science tweeters (or ZA science tweeters)-i.e. Twitter users in South Africa who tweet about research articles. The growing number of ZA science tweeters, both overall and in relative terms, suggests that Twitter users are increasingly using this social media platform as a tool to share and discuss scientific outputs. ZA science tweeters are actively contributing to the sharing of information about new research articles, but, in line with global trends, the bulk of science tweets amongst South African Twitter users comes from a small number of active tweeters, and only 1% of ZA science tweeters had more than 20,000 followers. About 6.6% of ZA science tweeters are scholars (or researchers) themselves. Compared to science tweeters who are not scholars, the scholar-tweeters sent out tweets about research articles more frequently, are active on Twitter over longer periods of time, publish more original tweets and use hashtags more frequently to increase their engagement on Twitter. In their Twitter bios, these scholars typically use academic terms to describe themselves, thereby presenting themselves as experts on this social media platform. Astronomy, astrophysics, ecology and the environment emerge as the research topics that are most popular amongst ZA science tweeters.

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“…Common hashtags included #mosquito and #mosquitocontrol. These hashtags allow users to easily search for and follow tweets of interest (Su et al, 2017). People specifically searching for information related to mosquito control would likely find these posts, but people trying to find general information related to how to prepare for the hurricane or what to do after the hurricane would have trouble finding these posts, especially since #HurricaneMichael was only found in three tweets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These tweets are publicly available and allow for a rapid spread of information. Users can also include hashtags (#) to help people search and connect on specific topics of their interest (Su, Scheufele, Bell, Brossard, & Xenos, 2017). Additionally, Twitter users can share others' tweets through "retweets," which helps to share that post with additional sets of followers.…”

Section: Social Media Crisis Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilizing Twitter to Communicate Risk after a Natural Disaster

Ruth¹,

Suits²,

McLeod-Morin³

et al. 2020

Journal of Applied Communications

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Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle as a category five hurricane on October 10, 2018. One of the risks after a hurricane is the spread of mosquito-borne disease due to standing floodwaters, which provide perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. People often turn to social media during times of crisis to receive up-to-date information. Therefore, there is a need to understand how to use social media to communicate about risks after a natural disaster. The purpose of this study was to explore how Twitter was used to communicate about mosquito control before and after Hurricane Michael and was guided by the Centers for Disease Control's crisis communication recommendations. Data were collected using Sysomos Media Analytics Platform (MAP). The search included tweets about mosquito control two weeks before and two weeks after Hurricane Michael made landfall and was limited to Florida residents. There were 198 tweets about mosquito control in this timeframe, and a sharp increase in tweets in the weeks following the hurricane. Users tweeting the most about mosquito control were public agencies like mosquito control districts, and common hashtags included #mosquito and #mosquitocontrol; #HurricaneMichael was rarely used. The largest number of tweets were identified with the frame Be First to warn people about mosquito spraying in their local areas. A minority of tweets promoted self-efficacy or promoted action related to mosquito control. None of the analyzed tweets expressed empathy. Extension can use the findings from this study to guide future risk communication on social media following a natural disaster.

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Information-Sharing and Community-Building: Exploring the Use of Twitter in Science Public Relations

Cited by 69 publications

References 48 publications

Uncivil and personal? Comparing patterns of incivility in comments on the Facebook pages of news outlets

Uncivil and personal? Comparing patterns of incivility in comments on the Facebook pages of news outlets

Getting to Know Science Tweeters: A Pilot Analysis of South African Twitter Users Tweeting about Research Articles

Utilizing Twitter to Communicate Risk after a Natural Disaster

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