Jisoo Ahn1, Yongwoog Andrew Jeon2, Dhiraj Murthy3. 1. Health and New Media Research Institute, Hallym University, Chuncheon, South Korea. 2. Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA. 3. School of Journalism, Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Abstract
Introduction: Social media is used as a tool for both information providers and information consumers to disseminate and receive health information. There is a dearth of research that compares the differences between different types of health provider Twitter® (Twitter, Inc., San Francisco, CA) posting styles, specifically regarding the ways in which they communicate health information with the public. This is particularly true for more localized studies that focus on small data sets. Methods: Our study seeks to help fill this gap through an exploration of emergent trends of social media use of small, but specific, stakeholders in Texas, in the United States. Results: A content analysis of health information providers' (individual, organizational, and governmental groups) Tweets based on digital, ethnographic, and grounded theory methods was performed to provide quantitative and qualitative findings in terms of purpose, sentiment, visual features, tone of the Tweets, and public engagement. Conclusions: The findings indicate how individual or organizational users differentially use their Twitter accounts and open up a discussion of what factors might influence effective communication with the public.
Introduction: Social media is used as a tool for both information providers and information consumers to disseminate and receive health information. There is a dearth of research that compares the differences between different types of health provider Twitter® (Twitter, Inc., San Francisco, CA) posting styles, specifically regarding the ways in which they communicate health information with the public. This is particularly true for more localized studies that focus on small data sets. Methods: Our study seeks to help fill this gap through an exploration of emergent trends of social media use of small, but specific, stakeholders in Texas, in the United States. Results: A content analysis of health information providers' (individual, organizational, and governmental groups) Tweets based on digital, ethnographic, and grounded theory methods was performed to provide quantitative and qualitative findings in terms of purpose, sentiment, visual features, tone of the Tweets, and public engagement. Conclusions: The findings indicate how individual or organizational users differentially use their Twitter accounts and open up a discussion of what factors might influence effective communication with the public.
Entities:
Keywords:
Twitter; content analysis; e-health; health information; health organization; social media; telemedicine