Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr;16(2):561-569.
doi: 10.1017/dmp.2020.347. Epub 2020 Sep 10.

Social Network Analysis of COVID-19 Public Discourse on Twitter: Implications for Risk Communication

Paola Pascual-Ferrá  1 , Neil Alperstein  1 , Daniel J Barnett  2
Affiliations

Social Network Analysis of COVID-19 Public Discourse on Twitter: Implications for Risk Communication

Paola Pascual-Ferrá et al. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the use of social network analysis to understand public discourse on Twitter around the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We examined different network properties that might affect the successful dissemination by and adoption of public health messages from public health officials and health agencies.

Methods: We focused on conversations on Twitter during 3 key communication events from late January to early June of 2020. We used Netlytic, a Web-based software that collects publicly available data from social media sites such as Twitter.

Results: We found that the network of conversations around COVID-19 is highly decentralized, fragmented, and loosely connected; these characteristics can hinder the successful dissemination of public health messages in a network. Competing conversations and misinformation can hamper risk communication efforts in a way that imperil public health.

Conclusions: Looking at basic metrics might create a misleading picture of the effectiveness of risk communication efforts on social media if not analyzed within the context of the larger network. Social network analysis of conversations on social media should be an integral part of how public health officials and agencies plan, monitor, and evaluate risk communication efforts.

Keywords: COVID-19; World Health Organization (WHO); risk communication; social media; social network analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Name Network (DrL) for the Term “Coronavirus” With the Top Names Mentioned in the Description Field of Tweets Collected from January 30, 2020, at 7:53 am (AST) to January 31, 2020, at 8:54 am (AST). We used Netlytic to generate this network visualization.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Name Network (DrL) for the Term “Coronavirus” and “#COVID19,” Showing Only the 5 Main Clusters With the Top Names Mentioned in the Description Field of Tweets Collected From March 11, 2020, at 13:28 pm (AST) to March 12, 2020, at 1:54 am (AST). We used Netlytic to generate this network visualization.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Name Network (DrL) for the Term “Coronavirus” and “#COVID19,” Showing Only the 5 Main Clusters With the Top Names Mentioned in the Description Field of Tweets Collected From June 8, 2020, at 19:58 pm (AST) to June 9, 2020, at 20:24 pm (AST). We used Netlytic to generate this network visualization.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Communicating in a crisis: risk communication guidelines for public officials. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, 2002. https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=440159. Accessed March 5, 2020.
    1. Schiavo R. Health Communication: From Theory to Practice. 2nd ed San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 2014.
    1. World Health Organization. Risk communication saves lives & livelihoods: pandemic influenza preparedness framework (brochure). https://www.who.int/risk-communication/PIP_brochure_EN_lo.pdf?ua=1. Accessed March 5, 2020.
    1. World Health Organization. The Emergency Communications Network (ECN). https://www.who.int/risk-communication/emergency-response/. Accessed March 5, 2020.
    1. Katz RL, Fischer JE. The revised International Health Regulations: a framework for global pandemic response. Glob Health Gov. 2010;3(2):1-18. http://www.ghgj.org/Katz%20and%20Fischer_The%20Revised%20International%2.... Accessed March 5, 2020.