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. 2022 Nov 25;2(2):e38441.
doi: 10.2196/38441. eCollection 2022 Jul-Dec.

COVID-19 Messaging on Social Media for American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: Thematic Analysis of Audience Reach and Web Behavior

Rose Weeks  1 , Sydney White  1 , Anna-Maria Hartner  1 , Shea Littlepage  1 , Jennifer Wolf  2 , Kristin Masten  1 , Lauren Tingey  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 Messaging on Social Media for American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: Thematic Analysis of Audience Reach and Web Behavior

Rose Weeks et al. JMIR Infodemiology. .

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, tribal and health organizations used social media to rapidly disseminate public health guidance highlighting protective behaviors such as masking and vaccination to mitigate the pandemic's disproportionate burden on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities.

Objective: Seeking to provide guidance for future communication campaigns prioritizing AI/AN audiences, this study aimed to identify Twitter post characteristics associated with higher performance, measured by audience reach (impressions) and web behavior (engagement rate).

Methods: We analyzed Twitter posts published by a campaign by the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health from July 2020 to June 2021. Qualitative analysis was informed by in-depth interviews with members of a Tribal Advisory Board and thematically organized according to the Health Belief Model. A general linearized model was used to analyze associations between Twitter post themes, impressions, and engagement rates.

Results: The campaign published 162 Twitter messages, which organically generated 425,834 impressions and 6016 engagements. Iterative analysis of these Twitter posts identified 10 unique themes under theory- and culture-related categories of framing knowledge, cultural messaging, normalizing mitigation strategies, and interactive opportunities, which were corroborated by interviews with Tribal Advisory Board members. Statistical analysis of Twitter impressions and engagement rate by theme demonstrated that posts featuring culturally resonant community role models (P=.02), promoting web-based events (P=.002), and with messaging as part of Twitter Chats (P<.001) were likely to generate higher impressions. In the adjusted analysis controlling for the date of posting, only the promotion of web-based events (P=.003) and Twitter Chat messaging (P=.01) remained significant. Visual, explanatory posts promoting self-efficacy (P=.01; P=.01) and humorous posts (P=.02; P=.01) were the most likely to generate high-engagement rates in both the adjusted and unadjusted analysis.

Conclusions: Results from the 1-year Twitter campaign provide lessons to inform organizations designing social media messages to reach and engage AI/AN social media audiences. The use of interactive events, instructional graphics, and Indigenous humor are promising practices to engage community members, potentially opening audiences to receiving important and time-sensitive guidance.

Keywords: American Indian or Alaska Native; COVID-19; Twitter; communication; community health; content analysis; infodemiology; online behavior; social media; thematic analysis; tribal organization.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Tweet impressions by social media post theme classification (n=162).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Tweet engagement rate by social media post theme classification (n=162).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Clockwise from top left: the top-ranked post by impressions was coded as Twitter Chat; the second highest post by impressions was coded as Observational Learning; a top-ER post showing a cartoon Native American individual chasing a COVID-19 particle with a vaccine syringe was coded as Humor; and the highest ranked post by ER was coded as Self-Efficacy. ER: engagement rate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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