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Cutting Through the Noise: Predictors of Successful Online Message Retransmission in the First 8 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Renshaw, Scott Leo; Mai, Sabrina; Dubois, Elisabeth; Sutton, Jeannette; Butts, Carter T.
  • Renshaw SL; Scott Leo Renshaw, MA, and Sabrina Mai are PhD Students, Department of Sociology, and Carter T. Butts, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of Sociology, Statistics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering and Computers; all at the University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA. Elisabeth Dubois
  • Mai S; Scott Leo Renshaw, MA, and Sabrina Mai are PhD Students, Department of Sociology, and Carter T. Butts, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of Sociology, Statistics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering and Computers; all at the University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA. Elisabeth Dubois
  • Dubois E; Scott Leo Renshaw, MA, and Sabrina Mai are PhD Students, Department of Sociology, and Carter T. Butts, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of Sociology, Statistics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering and Computers; all at the University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA. Elisabeth Dubois
  • Sutton J; Scott Leo Renshaw, MA, and Sabrina Mai are PhD Students, Department of Sociology, and Carter T. Butts, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of Sociology, Statistics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering and Computers; all at the University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA. Elisabeth Dubois
  • Butts CT; Scott Leo Renshaw, MA, and Sabrina Mai are PhD Students, Department of Sociology, and Carter T. Butts, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of Sociology, Statistics, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering and Computers; all at the University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA. Elisabeth Dubois
Health Secur ; 19(1): 31-43, 2021.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1174869
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we investigate how message construction, style, content, and the textual content of embedded images impacted message retransmission over the course of the first 8 months of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States. We analyzed a census of public communications (n = 372,466) from 704 public health agencies, state and local emergency management agencies, and elected officials posted on Twitter between January 1 and August 31, 2020, measuring message retransmission via the number of retweets (ie, a message passed on by others), an important indicator of engagement and reach. To assess content, we extended a lexicon developed from the early months of the pandemic to identify key concepts within messages, employing it to analyze both the textual content of messages themselves as well as text included within embedded images (n = 233,877), which was extracted via optical character recognition. Finally, we modelled the message retransmission process using a negative binomial regression, which allowed us to quantify the extent to which particular message features amplify or suppress retransmission, net of controls related to timing and properties of the sending account. In addition to identifying other predictors of retransmission, we show that the impact of images is strongly driven by content, with textual information in messages and embedded images operating in similar ways. We offer potential recommendations for crafting and deploying social media messages that can "cut through the noise" of an infodemic.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Information Dissemination / Public Health Informatics / Social Media / COVID-19 Type of study: Prognostic study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: Health Secur Year: 2021 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Information Dissemination / Public Health Informatics / Social Media / COVID-19 Type of study: Prognostic study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: Health Secur Year: 2021 Document Type: Article