Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data

Background With 500 million tweets posted daily, Twitter can provide valuable insights about public discourse surrounding niche topics, such as facial paralysis surgery. This study aims to describe public interest on Twitter relating to facial paralysis and facial reanimation surgery over the last d...

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Main Authors: Hayeem L. Rudy, Joseph A. Ricci
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2022-02-01
Series:Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0041-1740080
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author Hayeem L. Rudy
Joseph A. Ricci
author_facet Hayeem L. Rudy
Joseph A. Ricci
author_sort Hayeem L. Rudy
collection DOAJ
description Background With 500 million tweets posted daily, Twitter can provide valuable insights about public discourse surrounding niche topics, such as facial paralysis surgery. This study aims to describe public interest on Twitter relating to facial paralysis and facial reanimation surgery over the last decade. Methods Tweets containing the keywords “facial paralysis” and “Bell's palsy” posted between January 1, 2009, and January 1, 2019, were collected using Twitter Scraper. Tweets were screened by keywords relating to facial paralysis, and usage of these terms trended over time. Logistic regression was used to identify correlations between the quantity of publications per year and these terms posted on Twitter. Results 32,880 tweets were made during the study period, with no significant difference in the number of tweets per year. A very strong (r = 0.8–1.0) positive correlation was found between time and frequency of the term “plastic surgery” and “transfer” (p < 0.05). A strong (r = 0.60–0.79) correlation was found between time and frequency for the following terms: “facial reanimation,” “gracilis,” “masseter,” “plastics,” “transplant” (p < 0.05). A total of 619 studies with the keyword “facial reanimation” were published in PubMed within the study period. A very strong, positive correlation between publications per year and frequency was found for the terms “plastic surgery,” “function” and “esthetic,” and a strong, positive correlation was found for the “plastics,” “transplant,” “Botox,” “surgery,” “cosmetic,” “aesthetic” and “injection” (p < 0.05). Conclusions An increasing number of discussion about facial paralysis on Twitter correlates with increased publications and likely surgeon discourse on facial reanimation surgery, driving public interest.
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spelling doaj-art-70b943513bd142dd94c3e56ee54b26252025-08-20T03:34:01ZengThieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery0970-03581998-376X2022-02-01550103103510.1055/s-0041-1740080Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter DataHayeem L. Rudy0Joseph A. Ricci1The Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, United StatesThe Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, United StatesBackground With 500 million tweets posted daily, Twitter can provide valuable insights about public discourse surrounding niche topics, such as facial paralysis surgery. This study aims to describe public interest on Twitter relating to facial paralysis and facial reanimation surgery over the last decade. Methods Tweets containing the keywords “facial paralysis” and “Bell's palsy” posted between January 1, 2009, and January 1, 2019, were collected using Twitter Scraper. Tweets were screened by keywords relating to facial paralysis, and usage of these terms trended over time. Logistic regression was used to identify correlations between the quantity of publications per year and these terms posted on Twitter. Results 32,880 tweets were made during the study period, with no significant difference in the number of tweets per year. A very strong (r = 0.8–1.0) positive correlation was found between time and frequency of the term “plastic surgery” and “transfer” (p < 0.05). A strong (r = 0.60–0.79) correlation was found between time and frequency for the following terms: “facial reanimation,” “gracilis,” “masseter,” “plastics,” “transplant” (p < 0.05). A total of 619 studies with the keyword “facial reanimation” were published in PubMed within the study period. A very strong, positive correlation between publications per year and frequency was found for the terms “plastic surgery,” “function” and “esthetic,” and a strong, positive correlation was found for the “plastics,” “transplant,” “Botox,” “surgery,” “cosmetic,” “aesthetic” and “injection” (p < 0.05). Conclusions An increasing number of discussion about facial paralysis on Twitter correlates with increased publications and likely surgeon discourse on facial reanimation surgery, driving public interest.http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0041-1740080facial paralysisfacial reanimationtwittersocial mediaweb scrapingdata mining
spellingShingle Hayeem L. Rudy
Joseph A. Ricci
Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data
Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery
facial paralysis
facial reanimation
twitter
social media
web scraping
data mining
title Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data
title_full Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data
title_fullStr Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data
title_full_unstemmed Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data
title_short Mining the Twittersphere: Insights about Public Interest in Facial Reanimation Surgery from a Decade of Twitter Data
title_sort mining the twittersphere insights about public interest in facial reanimation surgery from a decade of twitter data
topic facial paralysis
facial reanimation
twitter
social media
web scraping
data mining
url http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0041-1740080
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