The Saudi Ministry of Health’s Twitter Communication Strategies and Public Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Content Analysis Study

Abstract

Background During a public health crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, governments and health authorities need quick and accurate methods of communicating with the public. While social media can serve as a useful tool for effective communication during disease outbreaks, few studies have elucidated how these platforms are used by the Ministry of Health (MOH) during disease outbreaks in Saudi Arabia. Objective Guided by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication model, this study aimed to explore the MOH’s use of Twitter and the public’s engagement during different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Methods Tweets and corresponding likes and retweets were extracted from the official Twitter account of the MOH in Saudi Arabia for the period of January 1 through August 31, 2020. Tweets related to COVID-19 were identified; subsequently, content analysis was performed, in which tweets were coded for the following message types: risk messages, warnings, preparations, uncertainty reduction, efficacy, reassurance, and digital health responses. Public engagement was measured by examining the numbers of likes and retweets. The association between outbreak stages and types of messages was assessed, as well as the effect of these messages on public engagement. Results The MOH posted a total of 1393 original tweets during the study period. Of the total tweets, 1293 (92.82%) were related to COVID-19, and 1217 were ultimately included in the analysis. The MOH posted the majority of its tweets (65.89%) during the initial stage of the outbreak. Accordingly, the public showed the highest level of engagement (as indicated by numbers of likes and retweets) during the initial stage. The types of messages sent by the MOH significantly differed across outbreak stages, with messages related to uncertainty reduction, reassurance, and efficacy being prevalent among all stages. Tweet content, media type, and crisis stage influenced the level of public engagement. Engagement was negatively associated with the inclusion of hyperlinks and multimedia files, while higher level of public engagement was associated with the use of hashtags. Tweets related to warnings, uncertainty reduction, and reassurance received high levels of public engagement. Conclusions This study provides insights into the Saudi MOH’s communication strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results have implications for researchers, governments, health organizations, and practitioners with regard to their communication practices during outbreaks. To increase public engagement, governments and health authorities should consider the public’s need for information. This, in turn, could raise public awareness regarding disease outbreaks.

Social media government communication and stakeholder engagement in the era of Covid-19: evidence from Italy

“…If regions had applied the CERC model since the pre-crisis phase, they should have made the right communication at the right time; consequently, the risk communication could be much more engaging since the begin of the emergency. Similar results have been found by Alhassan and AlDossary (2021) even if the citizens' engagement was different according to the different topics shared on TW. In this study, the engagement is extremely higher for all topics, especially compared to no Covid-19 posts.…”

“…The level of engagement is measured by the numbers and types of interaction within the SM. Moreover, according to Alhassan and AlDossary (2021), the level of engagement depends also on issues and the timing of messaging. In this sense, it is fundamental to measure the volume of engagement, of the shared contents and the type of messages posted by the governments (Powell, 2021).…”

Analyzing Tweeting Patterns and Public Engagement on Twitter During the Recognition Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study of Two U.S. States

“…The study suggests that tweets were more likely to be retweeted when they were related to the information and action functions while tweets were more likely to be liked when they were related to the action and community functions. Alhassan et al [16] conduct a related study to explore the Twitter use and public engagement of the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia during the pandemic. They analyze public engagement in terms of retweets and likes, similar to [7] and [8].…”

Does Citizen Engagement With Government Social Media Accounts Differ During the Different Stages of Public Health Crises? An Empirical Examination of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Although scholars have begun to place greater emphasis on Citizen Engagement via Government Social Media (CEGSM) during public health crises, several limitations are identified. First, extant research has examined government social media accounts to explore the determinants of citizen engagement during public health crises ( 1 , 10 – 12 ), while the generality of their conclusions has attracted significant attention. Secondly, the majority of existing literature has explored the influencing factors from a static perspective ( 5 , 13 ), and overlooked the dynamics of crisis development.…”

“…In another words, whether mechanisms apply to all crisis stages remains unknown. In addition, despite the efforts on the essence of the content, such as content type ( 10 ), extant research has focused extensively on the dialogic loop ( 14 , 15 ), media richness ( 16 , 17 ), and emotional valence ( 12 ), with few efforts on other important heuristic aspects, including social media capital, language features and their functions. This study, therefore, attempts to adopt the Heuristic-Systematic Model to examine the specific formation mechanisms of citizen engagement with government social media accounts during the different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”