Roles of information propagation of Chinese microblogging users in epidemics: a crisis management perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the usage characteristics and the information propagation patterns of Chinese microblogs in different stages of an epidemic, given that the microblogging in China is different from other parts of the world. In addition, the authors aim to conceptualize the roles of different users and provide insights for using microblogging platforms to disseminate information in this context.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an analysis on Sina Weibo microblogs about the African Swine Fever epidemic from August to October 2018. The authors firstly applied a label propagation algorithm to classify users into government, media, verified users and nonverified users. The authors analyzed several user metrics, traced the information propagation patterns of their microblogs and calculated the average speed of information propagation using computational approaches.FindingsThe authors’ findings show that different types of users played different roles, such as supplying information, amplifying information, relaying information and engaging with other users. The microblogs posted by media dominated the propagation in most cases, but general users can propagate information faster. The direction of information propagation is one-way for the majority of microblogs, and few users repost earlier information. Additionally, microblogs attract more attention at the beginning and the middle phases of an epidemic. In the context of managing epidemics, the authors recommend governments and other verified users can work together to use microblogging platforms efficiently.Originality/valueThis research is one of the few studies to investigate information propagation patterns of different user categories on a Chinese microblogging platform during an epidemic. The authors’ work can be used by government agencies and public health authorities for disseminating information efficiently during epidemics or emergencies, especially in the early stages.

Engagement of Government Social Media on Facebook during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Macao

“…In addition, the word frequency analysis of comments shows that both prevention and controlling measures are the main concerns in this stage. Therefore, in line with the literature in crisis management [20,68], the use of government social media in the acute stage should focus on providing up-to-date information and increasing transparency, regardless of the positive or negative nature of the content. The higher degree of sharing in the acute stage also indicates the potential of social media for disseminating information in a large scale, making it an effective tool for governments and authorities to broadcast updates during public health crises.…”

“…In addition, other research highlights that government social media often carries only one-way communication in disease outbreaks [ 17 , 20 ], that is, messages are conveyed from governments to the public. Our data show that the public responded by leaving comments, which can be used as indicators for measuring the acceptance of certain policies in the pandemic and for fine-tuning them to meet the needs of people.…”

“…The dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic often requires quick responses and swift decision making, which are similar to the handling of public health crises. As such, we use the perspective of crisis management that offers a systematic framework to understand how government social media is used at different points of time, which is important since social media users prefer different content and disseminate information differently in different stages of public health crises [ 20 , 21 ]. More specifically, the crisis model proposed by Fink divides a crisis into four stages [ 22 ], which allows us to compare the use of government social media in response to COVID-19 separately.…”

Public Social Media Discussions on Agricultural Product Safety Incidents: Chinese African Swine Fever Debate on Weibo

“…Similarly, Pourebrahim et al (2019) studied Twitter discussion of Hurricane Sandy and found that the connections between key influencers from different fields such as politics, news, weather and relief organizations and their followers played a crucial role in information sharing and dissemination, which provide an effective tool for emergency managers to establish two-way communication during disasters. Closely related to this study, Sun et al (2020) similarly studied the information dissemination patterns of Weibo during the African swine fever in 2018 and the results showed that different types of users play different roles, such as providing information, amplifying information, delivering information and engaging other users, and its beneficial for government agencies and public health authorities to effectively disseminate information.…”

Social Media Engagement in Two Governmental Schemes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Macao

“…This reflects that the public actually used social media as a channel to provide feedback and suggestions to the government as the pandemic evolved. Research has found that governments tend to only carry out one-way communication (such as announcements) on social media [ 51 ], and such an approach is inappropriate and does not meet citizen expectations in times of crisis. During unprecedented times, public health responses need to adjust rapidly, and social media can serve as a probe to understand how society reacts to these responses.…”