#PorkandPigs: an online media listening analysis of public perception of the U.S. swine industry

Abstract

With the majority of the U.S. swine industry being generally bounded by social licensing, there is a growing need to understand social perspectives to better adapt to consumer demands. Online and social media data are rich datasets that researchers are leveraging to tackle economic and societal challenges. The information that can be gleaned from online media regarding public perceptions makes it an important tool for producers to understand driving topics of interest to the public. This study utilized a prominent online and social media listening and data analytics platform to identify and quantify online and social media mentions related to the U.S. swine industry from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2023. A general search for online media referencing pork and pigs was designed resulting in a total of 41,093,309 mentions. The search was further queried to specific topics of food and cooking (20,580,068 mentions), price (2,866,548 mentions), welfare (1,615,208 mentions), sustainability (771,819 mentions), and top authors/organizations within the U.S. swine industry (1,430 mentions). The study spanned the geographic locations of the overall U.S. (including U.S. Minor Outlying Islands), the top 5 most populous states, and the top 5 pork producing states as of 2024. Of all mentions, X/Twitter was the largest domain for nearly all mentions related to pork and pigs. Major organizations designed to spread information between the general public and pork producers had a minor impact on the overall conversation and no online media presence in the top 5 most populous states. Net sentiment was overall positive across all four years and all geographies except for major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the H1N1 Swine Flu, the passing of California Proposition 12, environmental events, and inflation-associated pork prices. Overall, most media presence had positive net sentiments and with most interest surrounding ways to cook pork and how to keep bacon cheap. Understanding public perceptions of the U.S. swine industry provides the opportunity to make informed decisions on marketing strategies and production practices.