TY - JOUR
T1 - How Public Health Agencies Break through COVID-19 Conversations
T2 - A Strategic Network Approach to Public Engagement
AU - Kim, Hye Min
AU - Saffer, Adam J.
AU - Liu, Wenlin
AU - Sun, Jingyi
AU - Li, Yiqi
AU - Zhen, Lichen
AU - Yang, Aimei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In times of public health emergencies, health agencies need to engage and communicate with the public in real-time to share updates and accurate information. This is especially the case for the COVID-19 pandemic where public engagement can potentially save lives and flatten the curve. This paper considers how the use of interactive features and strategic network positions of health agencies on social media influenced their public engagement outcomes. Specifically, we analyzed 203 U.S. public health agencies’ Twitter activity and the public engagement they received by extracting data from a large-scale Twitter dataset collected from January 21st to May 31st, 2020. Results show that health agencies’ network position in addition to their two-way communication strategy greatly influenced the level of public engagement with their COVID-19 related content on Twitter. Findings highlight the benefits of strategic social media communication of public health agencies resides not only in how agencies use social media but also in their formation of network position to amplify their visibility. As official sources of health and risk information, public health agencies should coordinate their social media communication efforts to strategically position themselves in advantageous network positions to augment public engagement outcomes.
AB - In times of public health emergencies, health agencies need to engage and communicate with the public in real-time to share updates and accurate information. This is especially the case for the COVID-19 pandemic where public engagement can potentially save lives and flatten the curve. This paper considers how the use of interactive features and strategic network positions of health agencies on social media influenced their public engagement outcomes. Specifically, we analyzed 203 U.S. public health agencies’ Twitter activity and the public engagement they received by extracting data from a large-scale Twitter dataset collected from January 21st to May 31st, 2020. Results show that health agencies’ network position in addition to their two-way communication strategy greatly influenced the level of public engagement with their COVID-19 related content on Twitter. Findings highlight the benefits of strategic social media communication of public health agencies resides not only in how agencies use social media but also in their formation of network position to amplify their visibility. As official sources of health and risk information, public health agencies should coordinate their social media communication efforts to strategically position themselves in advantageous network positions to augment public engagement outcomes.
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U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2021.1886393
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2021.1886393
M3 - Article
C2 - 33591839
AN - SCOPUS:85100912701
SN - 1041-0236
VL - 37
SP - 1276
EP - 1284
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
IS - 10
ER -