Saving Lives and Changing Minds with Twitter in Disasters and Pandemics: A Literature Review

Abstract

Twitter is a major tool for communication during emergencies and disasters. This study aimed to investigate Twitter use during natural hazards and pandemics. The included studies reported the role of Twitter in disasters triggered by natural hazards. Electronic databases were used for a comprehensive literature search to identify the records that match the mentioned inclusion criteria published through May 2020. Forty-five articles met the selection criteria and were included in the review. These indicated ten functions of Twitter in disasters, including early warning, dissemination of information, advocacy, assessment, risk communication, public sentiment, geographical analysis, charity, collaboration with influencers and building trust. Preventing the spread of misinformation is one of the most important issues in times of disaster, especially pandemics. Sharing accurate, transparent and prompt information from emergency organizations and governments can help. Moreover, analyzing Twitter data can be a good way to understand the mental state of the community, estimate the number of injured people, estimate the points affected by disasters and model the prevalence of epidemics. Therefore, various groups such as politicians, government, nongovernmental organizations, aid workers and the health system can use this information to plan and implement interventions.

Using health belief model and social media analytics to develop insights from hospital-generated twitter messaging and community responses on the COVID-19 pandemic

“…They observed that Twitter is useful in enhancing the social capital of the health sector (Tang et al ., 2018), predicting disease outbreaks (Charles-Smith et al ., 2015) and forecasting the dynamics of outbreaks (Nsoesie et al ., 2014). It was indicated that Twitter, when used during disasters, can provide useful information to various stakeholders and is a good tool for sharing information (Abedin et al ., 2014; Martínez-Rojas et al ., 2018; Seddighi et al ., 2020).…”

Artificial Intelligence Support to the Paradigm Shift from Reactive to Anticipatory Action in Humanitarian Responses

“…In an increasingly connected and digital world, affected communities become a valuable source of relevant information [41]. Authors and SMEs have explored the use of an evolved medical intelligence platform (MIP) supported by the Expert.ai Cogito engine [4], able to processes, in addition to scientific literature, national and local press, tweets and other social media data [42][43][44][45] available on the surface, deep and dark web [42,46,47].…”

Harvesting social media with artificial intelligence for medical threats mapping and analytics

“…This is due to the quantity of data shared every day by millions, and the impact of tweets from institutions and influencers on their followers (Murthy, 2018). Twitter can be utilised for safeguarding against medical threats due to its speed and possibility to disseminate information in emergencies and disasters preparation (Seddighi et al, 2020), to send warnings and identify needs and required responses. Its reach makes it also an ideal platform for planning and preparedness coordination (Kusumasari, et al, 2020).…”