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

ABSTRACT:

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

SUBMITTER: Drescher LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8698804 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature