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. 2018 Sep 10;15(9):1974.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph15091974.

Strategic Uses of Facebook in Zika Outbreak Communication: Implications for the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model

May O Lwin  1 , Jiahui Lu  2   3 , Anita Sheldenkar  4 , Peter J Schulz  5
Affiliations

Strategic Uses of Facebook in Zika Outbreak Communication: Implications for the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model

May O Lwin et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

While social media has been increasingly used for communication of infectious disease outbreaks, little is known about how social media can improve strategic communication across various stages of the health crisis. The Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model (Reynolds & Seeger, 2005; CERC) outlines strategies across different crisis phases and can guide crisis communication on social media. This research therefore investigates how social media can be utilized to implement and adapt the CERC model, by examining the strategic uses of Facebook in communicating the recent Zika epidemic by health authorities in Singapore. Zika-related Facebook posts of three main Singapore health agencies published within the one year period from January 2016 to December 2016 were thematically analysed. Results suggest that Facebook was used to communicate the crisis strategically, which supported and added to the CERC model. Novel uses of Facebook for outbreak communication were demonstrated, including promoting public common responsibility for disease prevention and expressing regards to the public for cooperation. Results also suggested that preparedness messages might be the most effective, as they produced a great level of public engagement. The adaptability of the CERC model in social media contexts to improve crisis communication is discussed.

Keywords: CERC; Facebook; Zika; crisis communication; outbreak communication; public health; social media.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Facebook Zika communications in relation to confirmed Zika cases and key Zika activities in Singapore.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A word cloud for keywords in comments by publics (N = 230). Expressions with a frequency higher than 5 were plotted. Larger word size indicates higher use frequency.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A word cloud for keywords in comments by governments agencies (N = 6). Expressions with a frequency higher than 3 were plotted. Larger word size indicates higher use frequency.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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