Social media use by governments for COVID-19

ABSTRACT

This study explores how governments use social media for COVID-19 to communicate with the public according to government accounts by employing social network analysis for Twitter. First, this study finds that government accounts have different characteristics of key players. For instance, the US key players play an important role in the Donald Trump networks, whereas international key players play a significant role in the President of the United States (POTUS) networks. Second, Trump, POTUS, and the White House show a similar pattern, whereas the US Government reveals a unique shape for the social networks. Third, the US Government networks also exhibit unique characteristics of group networks against other government accounts. Fourth, citizens reply differently to the government accounts for the COVID-19 issue. For example, Donald Trump shows overwhelming replies over other tweeters in the Donald trump networks, whereas POTUS ranks second after Donald Trump in the POTUS networks. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.