Emergent health risks and audience information engagement on social media

Yulia A Strekalova

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2015.09.024

Emergent health risks and audience information engagement on social media

Am J Infect Control. 2016 Mar 1;44(3):363-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.09.024. Epub 2015 Nov 7.

Author

Yulia A Strekalova¹

Affiliation

¹ College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Electronic address: yulias@ufl.edu.

PMID: 26559738
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.09.024

Abstract

Social media can effectively reach large audiences and serve as an indicator for the public's sentiment and engagement in situations of disease outbreaks. This study used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Facebook posts between March 18 and October 31, 2014, surrounding the 2014 Ebola outbreak, to look at the audience engagement with online health information. The CDC submitted fewer posts about Ebola than about non-Ebola topics, but audience engagement with Ebola posts was significantly higher, and men were more interested in Ebola posts and submitted more comments per user.

Keywords: Information engagement; Risk communication; Social amplification of communication; Targeted health communication.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.
Female
Health Communication / methods*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology*
Humans
Male
Social Media*
United States