Abstract
BackgroundWhile existing studies have investigated the role of social media on health-related communication, little is known about the potential differences between different users groups on different social media platforms in responses to a health event. This study sets out to explore the online discourse of governmental authorities and the public in Singapore during the recent Zika pandemic in 2016.MethodsSocial media data were extracted from Facebook and Twitter using retroactive keyword sourcing of the word “Zika” to search for posts and a location filter of “Singapore”. Government posts, public posts, and replies to these original posts were included in the temporal and textual analysis.ResultsOverall, Facebook contained more government and individual content whereas Twitter had more content from news media accounts. Though the relative volume of Zika content from different data sources paralleled the peaks and troughs of Zika activities across time, discourses from different data sources differed in their temporal patterns, such that the public discourse died down faster than the government discourse after the outbreak was declared. In addition, the content of discourses differed among data sources. While government discourse included factual information of the disease, public discourse contained more elements of care such as worry about the risks to pregnant women, and elements of community such as well-wishes to each other.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates the temporal and content differences between user groups and social media platforms in social media conversations during the Zika pandemic. It suggests that future research should examine the collective discourse of a health event by investigating social media discourses within varied sources rather than focusing on a singular social media platform and by one particular type of users.
Highlights
While existing studies have investigated the role of social media on health-related communication, little is known about the potential differences between different users groups on different social media platforms in responses to a health event
A health-related event that led to a massive surge in communication between health organizations and the general public is the recent Zika pandemic in 2015–2016
By extracting and analyzing Zika-related social media posts and replies, this study examines the collective discourses from both government agencies and the general public that emerges over time across two different social media platforms, namely Facebook and Twitter
Summary
While existing studies have investigated the role of social media on health-related communication, little is known about the potential differences between different users groups on different social media platforms in responses to a health event. This study sets out to explore the online discourse of governmental authorities and the public in Singapore during the recent Zika pandemic in 2016. There have been significant changes in the way health-related information are communicated. These changes are mainly due to the increasing use of social media, which provide platforms for the creation and. A health-related event that led to a massive surge in communication between health organizations and the general public is the recent Zika pandemic in 2015–2016. Large amounts of information on prevention methods, risk areas, transmission rates, and other related matters were released by health organizations and demanded by the public [8, 9]. Individuals were communicating amongst themselves, and with health organizations, in an effort to reduce the resulting uncertainty and anxiety [10, 11]
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