Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on Twitter
With the surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19, clear public health messaging on social media has become more vital than ever. We demonstrate how unique Twitter data can be used to explore doctors’ reactions to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We elucidate how discussion differed across...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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HOPE
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media |
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| Online Access: | https://journalqd.org/article/view/3245 |
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| author | Katie Hsia Edward Kong |
| author_facet | Katie Hsia Edward Kong |
| author_sort | Katie Hsia |
| collection | DOAJ |
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With the surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19, clear public health messaging on social media has become more vital than ever. We demonstrate how unique Twitter data can be used to explore doctors’ reactions to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We elucidate how discussion differed across locations, over time, and in comparison to non-doctors. Tweets spiked surrounding major events and in locations with rising case numbers. Discussion from doctors initially focused on the origin of the virus in Wuhan, later switching to calls to “stay home.” Doctors tweeted more often about public health and healthcare workers, whereas non-doctors were more likely to tweet about political topics, including China and the Trump administration. The differences in how doctors and non-doctors engage about COVID-19 can provide insight into the similarities and differences in communication between medical experts and the public. Future public health communications may benefit from analyses that compare the social media messages promulgated by various groups.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fd3c895ddee7471880bfffce26c7eaef |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-8813 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | HOPE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media |
| spelling | doaj-art-fd3c895ddee7471880bfffce26c7eaef2025-08-20T03:36:58ZengHOPEJournal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media2673-88132022-04-01210.51685/jqd.2022.012Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on TwitterKatie Hsia0Edward Kong1Tufts Medical CenterHarvard Medical School With the surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19, clear public health messaging on social media has become more vital than ever. We demonstrate how unique Twitter data can be used to explore doctors’ reactions to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We elucidate how discussion differed across locations, over time, and in comparison to non-doctors. Tweets spiked surrounding major events and in locations with rising case numbers. Discussion from doctors initially focused on the origin of the virus in Wuhan, later switching to calls to “stay home.” Doctors tweeted more often about public health and healthcare workers, whereas non-doctors were more likely to tweet about political topics, including China and the Trump administration. The differences in how doctors and non-doctors engage about COVID-19 can provide insight into the similarities and differences in communication between medical experts and the public. Future public health communications may benefit from analyses that compare the social media messages promulgated by various groups. https://journalqd.org/article/view/3245Social MediaCOVID-19Doctors |
| spellingShingle | Katie Hsia Edward Kong Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on Twitter Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media Social Media COVID-19 Doctors |
| title | Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on Twitter |
| title_full | Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on Twitter |
| title_fullStr | Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on Twitter |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on Twitter |
| title_short | Characterizing the Reaction of Doctors to COVID-19 on Twitter |
| title_sort | characterizing the reaction of doctors to covid 19 on twitter |
| topic | Social Media COVID-19 Doctors |
| url | https://journalqd.org/article/view/3245 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT katiehsia characterizingthereactionofdoctorstocovid19ontwitter AT edwardkong characterizingthereactionofdoctorstocovid19ontwitter |