Dataset Information

Comparison of public discussions of gene editing on social media between the United States and China.

ABSTRACT: The world's first gene-edited babies event has stirred controversy on social media over the use of gene editing technology. Understanding public discussions about this controversy will provide important insights about opinions of science and facilitate informed policy decisions. This study compares public discussion topics about gene editing on Twitter and Weibo, as wel asthe evolution of these topics over four months. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to generate topics for 11,244 Weibo posts and 57,525 tweets from September 25, 2018, to January 25, 2019. Results showed a difference between the topics on Twitter versus Weibo: there were more nuanced discussions on Twitter, and the discussed topics between platforms focused on different areas. Temporal analysis showed that most discussions took place around gene-edited events. Based on our findings, suggestions were provided for policymakers and science communication practitioners to develop more effective communication strategies toward audiences in China and the U.S.

SUBMITTER: Ji J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9060334 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Comparison of public discussions of gene editing on social media between the United States and China.

Ji Jiaojiao J Robbins Matthew M Featherstone Jieyu Ding JD Calabrese Christopher C Barnett George A GA

PloS one 20220502 5

The world's first gene-edited babies event has stirred controversy on social media over the use of gene editing technology. Understanding public discussions about this controversy will provide important insights about opinions of science and facilitate informed policy decisions. This study compares public discussion topics about gene editing on Twitter and Weibo, as wel asthe evolution of these topics over four months. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to generate topics for 11,244 Weib ...[more]

PMID: 35500011

Similar Datasets

Project description:ImportanceOver two-thirds of the adult population in the United States use Facebook. Despite the high interest in and use of social media by the general public, the presence and accessibility of health care organizations on social media has not yet been fully evaluated.ObjectiveTo determine the use and popularity of social media among otolaryngology residency programs in the United States.Design, setting, and participantsA cross-sectional study of the presence of accredited otolaryngology residency programs in the United States in an internet data repository was conducted. Programs were stratified by Doximity Residency Navigator reputation rankings (dividing programs into quartiles) and US News & World Report (comparing programs affiliated with hospitals ranked in the top 50 vs programs affiliated with unranked hospitals). Social media sites and activity for each program were assessed using internet searches. The study was conducted in April 2017.ResultsAmong 101 otolaryngology residency programs, 30 were found to have social media sites (29.7%). Facebook and Twitter were the most commonly used services, with 25 (24.8%) and 14 (13.9%) accounts, respectively. Based on Doximity Residency Navigator rankings, programs in the first quartile were more likely to have Facebook profiles than programs in the fourth quartile (42.3% vs 12.0%; absolute difference, 30%; 95% CI, 2.9% to 52.6%). First- and second-quartile programs showed increased Facebook activity. There was greater Twitter presence in first- vs fourth-quartile programs (19.2% vs 8.0%; absolute difference, 11.2%; 95% CI, -11.6% to 33.0%). Higher-quartile programs were more active on Twitter and exhibited increased numbers of likes and followers. Analysis of US News & World Report rankings revealed that ranked programs had higher rates of presence, activity, and popularity on both Facebook and Twitter. However, these were smaller differences than seen when comparing Doximity Residency Navigator rankings. Correlation between the 2 ranking systems was indicated (Spearman ??=?0.59; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.76).Conclusions and relevanceThis study suggests that otolaryngology residency programs with higher Doximity Residency Navigator reputation rankings have a stronger presence on social media. Smaller trends were observed for programs in the top 50 US News & World Report rankings. Overall, social media use among otolaryngology programs seems relatively low, and this may present an opportunity to increase communication with the public via these technologies.

Dataset Information

Comparison of public discussions of gene editing on social media between the United States and China.

Publications

Comparison of public discussions of gene editing on social media between the United States and China.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets