The social amplification and attenuation of COVID-19 risk perception shaping mask wearing behavior: A longitudinal twitter analysis.
PLoS One
; 16(9): e0257428, 2021.
Artigo
em Inglês
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1435612
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Twitter represents a mainstream news source for the American public, offering a valuable vehicle for learning how citizens make sense of pandemic health threats like Covid-19. Masking as a risk mitigation measure became controversial in the US. The social amplification risk framework offers insight into how a risk event interacts with psychological, social, institutional, and cultural communication processes to shape Covid-19 risk perception.METHODS:
Qualitative content analysis was conducted on 7,024 mask tweets reflecting 6,286 users between January 24 and July 7, 2020, to identify how citizens expressed Covid-19 risk perception over time. Descriptive statistics were computed for (a) proportion of tweets using hyperlinks, (b) mentions, (c) hashtags, (d) questions, and (e) location.RESULTS:
Six themes emerged regarding how mask tweets amplified and attenuated Covid-19 risk (a) severity perceptions (18.0%) steadily increased across 5 months; (b) mask effectiveness debates (10.7%) persisted; (c) who is at risk (26.4%) peaked in April and May 2020; (d) mask guidelines (15.6%) peaked April 3, 2020, with federal guidelines; (e) political legitimizing of Covid-19 risk (18.3%) steadily increased; and (f) mask behavior of others (31.6%) composed the largest discussion category and increased over time. Of tweets, 45% contained a hyperlink, 40% contained mentions, 33% contained hashtags, and 16.5% were expressed as a question.CONCLUSIONS:
Users ascribed many meanings to mask wearing in the social media information environment revealing that COVID-19 risk was expressed in a more expanded range than objective risk. The simultaneous amplification and attenuation of COVID-19 risk perception on social media complicates public health messaging about mask wearing.
Texto completo:
Disponível
Coleções:
Bases de dados internacionais
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Pandemias
/
Mídias Sociais
/
COVID-19
/
Máscaras
Tipo de estudo:
Estudo de coorte
/
Estudo observacional
/
Estudo prognóstico
/
Pesquisa qualitativa
/
Ensaios controlados aleatorizados
Limite:
Humanos
País/Região como assunto:
América do Norte
Idioma:
Inglês
Revista:
PLoS One
Assunto da revista:
Ciência
/
Medicina
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Artigo
País de afiliação:
Journal.pone.0257428
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