Using Social Media for Rapid Information Dissemination in a Pandemic: #PedsICU and Coronavirus Disease 2019.
Pediatr Crit Care Med
; 21(8): e538-e546, 2020 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-380723
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To describe the impact of a strategy for international collaboration and rapid information dissemination on Twitter among the pediatric critical care community during a global pandemic.DESIGN:
Analysis of #PedsICU and coronavirus disease 2019 Twitter data in the Symplur Signals Database between February 1, 2020, and May 1, 2020.SETTING:
Social media platform Twitter. PATIENTS None.INTERVENTIONS:
Promotion of the joint usage of #PedsICU and #COVID19 throughout the international pediatric critical care community in tweets relevant to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and pediatric critical care. MEASUREMENTS AND MAINRESULTS:
We collected data on all tweets containing the hashtag #PedsICU in addition to those containing both #PedsICU and coronavirus disease 2019 hashtags. Tweets including #PedsICU were shared 49,865 times on six continents between February 1, 2020, and May 1, 2020; between February 1 and March 13, only 8% of #PedsICU tweets included a coronavirus disease 2019 hashtag. After a sharp rise during the week of March 14, 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 content has dominated the #PedsICU conversation on Twitter, comprising 69% of both #PedsICU tweets and impressions (p < 0.001). The most commonly used coronavirus disease 2019 hashtag over the study period was #COVID19 (69%). Proportionately, a greater percentage of #PedsICU tweets including the coronavirus disease 2019 hashtag (vs not) had images or videos (45% vs 41%; p < 0.001). In addition, non-physician healthcare providers were the largest group of users (46%) of the combination of #PedsICU and coronavirus disease 2019 hashtags. The most popular tweets shared on Twitter were open-access resources, including links for updated literature, narrative reviews, and educational videos relevant to coronavirus disease 2019 clinical care. Concurrent hashtags and words in tweets containing #PedsICU and coronavirus disease 2019 hashtags spanned several different disciplines and topics in pediatric critical care.CONCLUSION:
Twitter has been used widely for real-time information sharing and collaboration among the international pediatric critical care community during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Targeted use of #PedsICU and #COVID19 for engagement on Twitter is a conduit to combat misinformation and optimize reach to pediatric critical care stakeholders across the globe when rapid dissemination is needed.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Information Dissemination
/
Social Media
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Pediatr Crit Care Med
Journal subject:
Pediatrics
/
Critical Care
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Pcc.0000000000002474
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