Social media for field epidemiologists (#SoMe4epi): How to use Twitter during the #COVID19 pandemic

Hammer, C; Boender, T. Sonia; Thomas, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.05.035

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The COVID-19 pandemic hit Germany at the beginning of 2020. General information in Germany has been delivered on Twitter, with authorities, and particularly other experts such as scientists, science communicators, politicians, and journalists, distributing COVID-19–related tweets [ 2 ] and content on the German Twitter network. Both authorities and COVID-19 experts use Twitter to directly share their own insights and opinions with the Twitter community in an unfiltered manner independent of traditional media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

Drescher¹,

Roosen²,

Aue³

et al. 2021

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic led to the necessity of immediate crisis communication by public health authorities. In Germany, as in many other countries, people choose social media, including Twitter, to obtain real-time information and understanding of the pandemic and its consequences. Next to authorities, experts such as virologists and science communicators were very prominent at the beginning of German Twitter COVID-19 crisis communication. Objective The aim of this study was to detect similarities and differences between public authorities and individual experts in COVID-19 crisis communication on Twitter during the first year of the pandemic. Methods Descriptive analysis and quantitative content analysis were carried out on 8251 original tweets posted from January 1, 2020, to January 15, 2021. COVID-19–related tweets of 21 authorities and 18 experts were categorized into structural, content, and style components. Negative binomial regressions were performed to evaluate tweet spread measured by the retweet and like counts of COVID-19–related tweets. Results Descriptive statistics revealed that authorities and experts increasingly tweeted about COVID-19 over the period under study. Two experts and one authority were responsible for 70.26% (544,418/774,865) of all retweets, thus representing COVID-19 influencers. Altogether, COVID-19 tweets by experts reached a 7-fold higher rate of retweeting (t8,249=26.94, P<.001) and 13.9 times the like rate (t8,249=31.27, P<.001) compared with those of authorities. Tweets by authorities were much more designed than those by experts, with more structural and content components; for example, 91.99% (4997/5432) of tweets by authorities used hashtags in contrast to only 19.01% (536/2819) of experts’ COVID-19 tweets. Multivariate analysis revealed that such structural elements reduce the spread of the tweets, and the incidence rate of retweets for authorities’ tweets using hashtags was approximately 0.64 that of tweets without hashtags (Z=–6.92, P<.001). For experts, the effect of hashtags on retweets was insignificant (Z=1.56, P=.12). Conclusions Twitter data are a powerful information source and suitable for crisis communication in Germany. COVID-19 tweet activity mirrors the development of COVID-19 cases in Germany. Twitter users retweet and like communications regarding COVID-19 by experts more than those delivered by authorities. Tweets have higher coverage for both authorities and experts when they are plain and for authorities when they directly address people. For authorities, it appears that it was difficult to win recognition during COVID-19. For all stakeholders studied, the association between number of followers and number of retweets was highly significantly positive (authorities Z=28.74, P<.001; experts Z=25.99, P<.001). Updated standards might be required for successful crisis communication by authorities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

Drescher¹,

Roosen²,

Aue³

et al. 2021

JMIR Public Health Surveill

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Learning processes which were attached to gaining health information were highly based on the social contexts (Sbaffi and Rowley, 2017;Vega et al, 2011). Therefore, Twitter can be a key tool to share experiences among COVID-19 (Hammer et al, 2021). This could be the component that differentiates the results from previous studies for Turkey's situation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, 2011). Therefore, Twitter can be a key tool to share experiences among COVID-19 (Hammer et al , 2021). This could be the component that differentiates the results from previous studies for Turkey’s situation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of factors in eHealth literacy in period of COVID-19: a study of Turkey

Yuce

Albayrak

Baran

et al. 2021

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PurposeThis study aims to understand the eHealth literacy skills of chronic patients and to explore the relations, patterns between eHealth literacy skills and different factors such as demographics, search strategies and health information sources and to explain their effects on eHealth literacy in Turkey in Izmir in COVID-19 outbreak.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative method was used in the study including a questionnaire. A total of 604 chronic patients responded to the questionnaire who applied the five popularly identified hospitals in Izmir in Turkey. CHAID analysis method was implemented to explore the strongest correlation between eHealth literacy and independent variables.FindingsUsing different social media types were correlated with patients’ eHealth literacy scores. Using Facebook, Twitter were the supportive predictors for the eHealth literacy scores. However, digital literacy was highly important for eHealth literacy.Originality/valueThis study shows that the social media channels which provides much more information such as Facebook and Twitter for the chronic patient. This could be beneficial for the eHealth tools and social media content developers in terms of the supply of health information. Moreover, the study gives ideas about the effect of digital literacy and the importance of health information provided.

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“…A study showed that followers' engagement increases on social media if the brand content is linked to concepts such as happiness and health and safety [60]. "Social media have been developed rapidly and it is recognized as a key strategic element of organizations competitiveness and survival" [61], and its value is recognized in various fields [62][63][64], being related to happiness and consumption habits [65]. The marketing options provided by Social Media to professionals elongate the modus operandi of dentists to promote their advice, practices and clinics [42,[66][67][68].…”

Section: Smm and The Personalisation Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eye Tracking and an A/B Split Test for Social Media Marketing Optimisation: The Connection between the User Profile and Ad Creative Components

Nichifor

Lixăndroiu

Chițu

et al. 2021

JTAER

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In the era of digitally dominated competition, where the effectiveness of Facebook ads prompts the social media marketing strategy, new opportunities arise for most industries. In this context, this study aims to discover and summarize the key optimisations regarding the creative ad components needed to run highly personalized ads based on a user profile. The participants were Facebook users between the ages of 18 and 65+ who were interested in dental services. Qualitative methods were adopted in order to discover suitable options for professionals to grow their business. In the first stage, the A/B split test using the Facebook Ads manager labelled the most effective creative component. In the second stage, an eye-tracking experiment generated 30 heatmaps that showed the differences between the segments. The results show solutions for attracting users by increasing the level of personalization of the ads. They are more beneficial for social media campaigns aimed at brand awareness targeting women and showing them a happy human face. When the target audience is men, technical details are preferred in order for the ad to become more attractive for them. This study enriches the literature and empowers professionals to deploy social media marketing growth strategies to attract users and make them convert to their full potential.

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Social media for field epidemiologists (#SoMe4epi): How to use Twitter during the #COVID19 pandemic

Cited by 13 publications

References 15 publications

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

The Spread of COVID-19 Crisis Communication by German Public Authorities and Experts on Twitter: Quantitative Content Analysis

Role of factors in eHealth literacy in period of COVID-19: a study of Turkey

Eye Tracking and an A/B Split Test for Social Media Marketing Optimisation: The Connection between the User Profile and Ad Creative Components

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