Tracking suicide risk factors through Twitter in the US.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. Social media such as Twitter is an emerging surveillance tool that may assist researchers in tracking suicide risk factors in real time. AIMS: To identify suicide-related risk factors through Twitter conversations by matching on geographic suicide rates from vital statistics data. METHOD: At-risk tweets were filtered from the Twitter stream using keywords and phrases created from suicide risk factors. Tweets were grouped by state and departures from expectation were calculated. The values for suicide tweeters were compared against national data of actual suicide rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RESULTS: A total of 1,659,274 tweets were analyzed over a 3-month period with 37,717 identified as at-risk for suicide. Midwestern and western states had a higher proportion of suicide-related tweeters than expected, while the reverse was true for southern and eastern states. A strong correlation was observed between state Twitter-derived data and actual state age-adjusted suicide data. CONCLUSION: Twitter may be a viable tool for real-time monitoring of suicide risk factors on a large scale. This study demonstrates that individuals who are at risk for suicide may be detected through social media.

Analysis of the purpose of state health departments' tweets: information sharing, engagement, and action.

BACKGROUND: Public health agencies are actively using social media, including Twitter. In the public health and nonprofit sectors, Twitter has been limited to one-way communication. Two-way, interactive communication on Twitter has the potential to enhance organizational relationships with followers and help organizations achieve their goals by increasing communication and dialog between the organization and its followers. Research shows that nonprofit organizations use Twitter for three main functions: information sharing, community building, and action. OBJECTIVE: It is not known whether state health departments are using Twitter primarily for one-way information sharing or if they are trying to engage followers to build relationships and promote action. The purpose of this research was to discover what the primary function of Twitter use is among state health departments in the United States and whether this is similar to or different from nonprofit organizations. METHODS: A complete list of "tweets" made by each state health department account was obtained using the Twitter application programming interface. We randomly sampled 10% of each state health department's tweets. Four research assistants hand-coded the tweets' primary focus (organization centric or personal health information centric) and then the subcategories of information dissemination, engagement, or action. Research assistants coded each tweet for interactivity, sophistication, and redirects to another website. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: There were 4221 tweets from 39 state health departments. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of tweets made by a state health department and the state population density (P=.25). The majority of tweets focused on personal health topics (69.37%, 2928/4221) while one-third were tweets about the organization (29.14% , 1230/4221). The main function of organization-based tweets was engagement through conversations to build community (65.77%, 809/1236). These engagement-related tweets were primarily recognition of other organizations' events (43.6%, 353/809) and giving thanks and recognition (21.4%, 173/809). Nearly all of the personal health information-centric tweets involved general public health information (92.10%, 1399/1519) and 79.03% (3336/4221) of tweets directed followers to another link for more information. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to assess the purpose of public health tweets among state health departments. State health departments are using Twitter as a one-way communication tool, with tweets focused primarily on personal health. A state health department Twitter account may not be the primary health information source for individuals. Therefore, state health departments should reconsider their focus on personal health tweets and envision how they can use Twitter to develop relationships with community agencies and partners. In order to realize the potential of Twitter to establish relationships and develop connections, more two-way communication and interaction are essential.

Using Twitter for breast cancer prevention: an analysis of breast cancer awareness month.

BACKGROUND: One in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. The best-known awareness event is breast cancer awareness month (BCAM). BCAM month outreach efforts have been associated with increased media coverage, screening mammography and online information searching. Traditional mass media coverage has been enhanced by social media. However, there is a dearth of literature about how social media is used during awareness-related events. The purpose of this research was to understand how Twitter is being used during BCAM. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. We collected breast cancer- related tweets from 26 September - 12 November 2012, using Twitter's application programming interface. We classified Twitter users into organizations, individuals, and celebrities; each tweet was classified as an original or a retweet, and inclusion of a mention, meaning a reference to another Twitter user with @username. Statistical methods included ANOVA and chi square. For content analysis, we used computational linguistics techniques, specifically the MALLET implementation of the unsupervised topic modeling algorithm Latent Dirichlet Allocation. RESULTS: There were 1,351,823 tweets by 797,827 unique users. Tweets spiked dramatically the first few days then tapered off. There was an average of 1.69 tweets per user. The majority of users were individuals. Nearly all of the tweets were original. Organizations and celebrities posted more often than individuals. On average celebrities made far more impressions; they were also retweeted more often and their tweets were more likely to include mentions. Individuals were more likely to direct a tweet to a specific person. Organizations and celebrities emphasized fundraisers, early detection, and diagnoses while individuals tweeted about wearing pink. CONCLUSIONS: Tweeting about breast cancer was a singular event. The majority of tweets did not promote any specific preventive behavior. Twitter is being used mostly as a one-way communication tool. To expand the reach of the message and maximize the potential for word-of-mouth marketing using Twitter, organizations need a strategic communications plan to ensure on-going social media conversations. Organizations may consider collaborating with individuals and celebrities in these conversations. Social media communication strategies that emphasize fundraising for breast cancer research seem particularly appropriate.

Use of twitter among local health departments: an analysis of information sharing, engagement, and action.

BACKGROUND: Social media offers unprecedented opportunities for public health to engage audiences in conversations and collaboration that could potentially lead to improved health conditions. While there is some evidence that local health departments (LHDs) are using social media and Twitter in particular, little is known about how Twitter is used by LHDs and how they use it to engage followers versus disseminating one-way information. OBJECTIVE: To examine how LHDs use Twitter to share information, engage with followers, and promote action, as well as to discover differences in Twitter use among LHDs by size of population served. METHODS: The Twitter accounts for 210 LHDs were stratified into three groups based on size of population served (n=69 for less than 100,000; n=89 for 100,000-499,999; n=52 for 500,000 or greater). A sample of 1000 tweets was obtained for each stratum and coded as being either about the organization or about personal-health topics. Subcategories for organization included information, engagement, and action. Subcategories for personal health included information and action. RESULTS: Of all LHD tweets (n=3000), 56.1% (1682/3000) related to personal health compared with 39.5% (1186/3000) that were about the organization. Of the personal-health tweets, 58.5% (984/1682) involved factual information and 41.4% (697/1682) encouraged action. Of the organization-related tweets, 51.9% (615/1186) represented one-way communication about the organization and its events and services, 35.0% (416/1186) tried to engage followers in conversation, and 13.3% (158/1186) encouraged action to benefit the organization (eg, attend events). Compared with large LHDs, small LHDs were more likely to post tweets about their organization (Cramer's V=0.06) but were less likely to acknowledge events and accomplishments of other organizations (χ²=12.83, P=.02, Cramer's V=0.18). Small LHDs were also less likely to post personal health-related tweets (Cramer's V=0.08) and were less likely to post tweets containing suggestions to take action to modify their lifestyle. While large LHDs were more likely to post engagement-related tweets about the organization (Cramer's V=0.12), they were less likely to ask followers to take action that would benefit the organization (χ²=7.59, P=.02. Cramer's V=0.08). While certain associations were statistically significant, the Cramer's V statistic revealed weak associations. CONCLUSIONS: Twitter is being adopted by LHDs, but its primary use involves one-way communication on personal-health topics as well as organization-related information. There is also evidence that LHDs are starting to use Twitter to engage their audiences in conversations. As public health transitions to more dialogic conversation and engagement, Twitter's potential to help form partnerships with audiences and involve them as program participants may lead to action for improved health.

Tweaking and tweeting: exploring Twitter for nonmedical use of a psychostimulant drug (Adderall) among college students.

BACKGROUND: Adderall is the most commonly abused prescription stimulant among college students. Social media provides a real-time avenue for monitoring public health, specifically for this population. OBJECTIVE: This study explores discussion of Adderall on Twitter to identify variations in volume around college exam periods, differences across sets of colleges and universities, and commonly mentioned side effects and co-ingested substances. METHODS: Public-facing Twitter status messages containing the term "Adderall" were monitored from November 2011 to May 2012. Tweets were examined for mention of side effects and other commonly abused substances. Tweets from likely students containing GPS data were identified with clusters of nearby colleges and universities for regional comparison. RESULTS: 213,633 tweets from 132,099 unique user accounts mentioned "Adderall." The number of Adderall tweets peaked during traditional college and university final exam periods. Rates of Adderall tweeters were highest among college and university clusters in the northeast and south regions of the United States. 27,473 (12.9%) mentioned an alternative motive (eg, study aid) in the same tweet. The most common substances mentioned with Adderall were alcohol (4.8%) and stimulants (4.7%), and the most common side effects were sleep deprivation (5.0%) and loss of appetite (2.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Twitter posts confirm the use of Adderall as a study aid among college students. Adderall discussions through social media such as Twitter may contribute to normative behavior regarding its abuse.

Evaluating social media's capacity to develop engaged audiences in health promotion settings: use of Twitter metrics as a case study.

Use of social media in health promotion and public health continues to grow in popularity, though most of what is reported in literature represents one-way messaging devoid of attributes associated with engagement, a core attribute, if not the central purpose, of social media. This article defines engagement, describes its value in maximizing the potential of social media in health promotion, proposes an evaluation hierarchy for social media engagement, and uses Twitter as a case study to illustrate how the hierarchy might function in practice. Partnership and participation are proposed as culminating outcomes for social media use in health promotion. As use of social media in health promotion moves toward this end, evaluation metrics that verify progress and inform subsequent strategies will become increasingly important.

"Right time, right place" health communication on Twitter: value and accuracy of location information.

BACKGROUND: Twitter provides various types of location data, including exact Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, which could be used for infoveillance and infodemiology (ie, the study and monitoring of online health information), health communication, and interventions. Despite its potential, Twitter location information is not well understood or well documented, limiting its public health utility. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to document and describe the various types of location information available in Twitter. The different types of location data that can be ascertained from Twitter users are described. This information is key to informing future research on the availability, usability, and limitations of such location data. METHODS: Location data was gathered directly from Twitter using its application programming interface (API). The maximum tweets allowed by Twitter were gathered (1% of the total tweets) over 2 separate weeks in October and November 2011. The final dataset consisted of 23.8 million tweets from 9.5 million unique users. Frequencies for each of the location options were calculated to determine the prevalence of the various location data options by region of the world, time zone, and state within the United States. Data from the US Census Bureau were also compiled to determine population proportions in each state, and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to compare each state's population with the number of Twitter users who enable the GPS location option. RESULTS: The GPS location data could be ascertained for 2.02% of tweets and 2.70% of unique users. Using a simple text-matching approach, 17.13% of user profiles in the 4 continental US time zones were able to be used to determine the user's city and state. Agreement between GPS data and data from the text-matching approach was high (87.69%). Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between the number of Twitter users per state and the 2010 US Census state populations (r ≥ 0.97, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Health researchers exploring ways to use Twitter data for disease surveillance should be aware that the majority of tweets are not currently associated with an identifiable geographic location. Location can be identified for approximately 4 times the number of tweets using a straightforward text-matching process compared to using the GPS location information available in Twitter. Given the strong correlation between both data gathering methods, future research may consider using more qualitative approaches with higher yields, such as text mining, to acquire information about Twitter users' geographical location.