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COVID-19 pandemic and information diffusion analysis on Twitter.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of our lives, including the information spread on social media. Prior literature has found that information diffusion dynamics on social networks mirror that of a virus, but applying the epidemic Susceptible-Infected-Removed model (SIR) model to examine how information spread is not sufficient to claim that information spreads like a virus. In this study, we explore whether there are similarities in the simulated SIR model (SIRsim), observed SIR model based on actual COVID-19 cases (SIRemp), and observed information cascades on Twitter about the virus (INFOcas) by using network analysis and diffusion modeling. We propose three primary research questions: (a) What are the diffusion patterns of COVID-19 virus spread, based on SIRsim and SIRemp? (b) What are the diffusion patterns of information cascades on Twitter (INFOcas), with respect to retweets, quote tweets, and replies? and (c) What are the major differences in diffusion patterns between SIRsim, SIRemp, and INFOcas? Our study makes a contribution to the information sciences community by showing how epidemic modeling of virus and information diffusion analysis of online social media are distinct but interrelated concepts.

SUBMITTER: Dinh L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7645904 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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COVID-19 pandemic and information diffusion analysis on Twitter.

Dinh Ly L Parulian Nikolaus N

Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology. Association for Information Science and Technology 20201022 1

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of our lives, including the information spread on social media. Prior literature has found that information diffusion dynamics on social networks mirror that of a virus, but applying the epidemic Susceptible-Infected-Removed model (SIR) model to examine how information spread is not sufficient to claim that information spreads like a virus. In this study, we explore whether there are similarities in the simulated SIR model (<i>SIRsim</i>), observed ...[more]

PMID: 33173813

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Project description:BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by uncertainty and constant change, forcing governments and health authorities to ramp up risk communication efforts. Consequently, visuality and social media platforms like Twitter have come to play a vital role in disseminating prevention messages widely. Yet to date, only little is known about what characterizes visual risk communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. To address this gap in the literature, this study's objective was to determine how visual risk communication was used on Twitter to promote the World Health Organisations (WHO) recommended preventative behaviours and how this communication changed over time.MethodsWe sourced Twitter's 500 most retweeted Covid-19 messages for each month from January-October 2020 using Crowdbreaks. For inclusion, tweets had to have visuals, be in English, come from verified accounts, and contain one of the keywords 'covid19', 'coronavirus', 'corona', or 'covid'. Following a retrospective approach, we then performed a qualitative content analysis of the 616 tweets meeting inclusion criteria.ResultsOur results show communication dynamics changed over the course of the pandemic. At the start, most retweeted preventative messages came from the media and health and government institutions, but overall, personal accounts with many followers (51.3%) predominated, and their tweets had the highest spread (10.0%, i.e., retweet count divided by followers). Messages used mostly photographs and images were found to be rich with information. 78.1% of Tweets contained 1-2 preventative messages, whereby 'stay home' and 'wear a mask' frequented most. Although more tweets used health loss framing, health gain messages spread more.ConclusionOur findings can inform the didactics of future crisis communication. The results underscore the value of engaging individuals, particularly influencers, as advocates to spread health risk messages and promote solidarity. Further, our findings on the visual characteristic of the most retweeted tweets highlight factors that health and government organisations should consider when creating visual health messages for Twitter. However, that more tweets used the emotive medium of photographs often combined with health loss framing raises concerns about persuasive tactics. More research is needed to understand the implications of framing and its impact on public perceptions and behaviours.

Project description:BackgroundThere is a lot of misinformation about a potential protective role of nicotine against COVID-19 spread on Twitter despite significant evidence to the contrary. We need to examine the role of vape advocates in the dissemination of such information through the lens of the gatewatching framework, which posits that top users can amplify and exert a disproportionate influence over the dissemination of certain content through curating, sharing, or, in the case of Twitter, retweeting it, serving more as a vector for misinformation rather than the source.ObjectiveThis research examines the Twitter discourse at the intersection of COVID-19 and tobacco (1) to identify the extent to which the most outspoken contributors to this conversation self-identify as vaping advocates and (2) to understand how and to what extent these vape advocates serve as gatewatchers through disseminating content about a therapeutic role of tobacco, nicotine, or vaping against COVID-19.MethodsTweets about tobacco, nicotine, or vaping and COVID-19 (N=1,420,271) posted during the first 9 months of the pandemic (January-September 2020) were identified from within a larger corpus of tobacco-related tweets using validated keyword filters. The top posters (ie, tweeters and retweeters) were identified and characterized, along with the most shared Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), most used hashtags, and the 1000 most retweeted posts. Finally, we examined the role of both top users and vape advocates in retweeting the most retweeted posts about the therapeutic role of nicotine, tobacco, or vaping against COVID-19.ResultsVape advocates comprised between 49.7% (n=81) of top 163 and 88% (n=22) of top 25 users discussing COVID-19 and tobacco on Twitter. Content about the ability of tobacco, nicotine, or vaping to treat or prevent COVID-19 was disseminated broadly, accounting for 22.5% (n=57) of the most shared URLs and 10% (n=107) of the most retweeted tweets. Finally, among top users, retweets comprised an average of 78.6% of the posts from vape advocates compared to 53.1% from others (z=3.34, P<.001). Vape advocates were also more likely to retweet the top tweeted posts about a therapeutic role of nicotine, with 63% (n=51) of vape advocates retweeting at least 1 post compared to 40.3% (n=29) of other top users (z=2.80, P=.01).ConclusionsProvaping users dominated discussions of tobacco use during the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter and were instrumental in disseminating the most retweeted posts about a potential therapeutic role of tobacco use against the virus. Subsequent research is needed to better understand the extent of this influence and how to mitigate the influence of vape advocates over the broader narrative of tobacco regulation on Twitter.

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COVID-19 pandemic and information diffusion analysis on Twitter.

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COVID-19 pandemic and information diffusion analysis on Twitter.

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