ArticleThe Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy2014
What makes people talk about antibiotics on social media? A retrospective analysis of Twitter use.
Article in The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Communicating Antimicrobial Resistance on Instagram: Content Analysis of #AntibioticResistance.JMIR infodemiology · 2025Article
- Public Response to Federal Electronic Cigarette Regulations Analyzed Using Social Media Data Through Natural Language Processing: Topic Modeling Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Antimicrobial prescribing practices and factors associated with antimicrobial prescribing in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Oyo state: A retrospective study.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Understanding the Consumption of Antimicrobial Resistance-Related Content on Social Media: Twitter Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- The Usage of Antibiotics by COVID-19 Patients with Comorbidities: The Risk of Increased Antimicrobial Resistance.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Drivers of global media attention and representations for antimicrobial resistance risk: an analysis of online English and Chinese news media data, 2015-2018.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2021Article
- Emergency Response and Risk Communication Effects of Local Media during COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Study Based on a Social Media Network.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Exploring Undergraduate Pharmacy Students Perspectives Towards Antibiotics Use, Antibiotic Resistance, and Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Along With the Pharmacy Teachers' Perspectives: A Mixed-Methods Study From Pakistan.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- The "Obiettivo Antibiotico" Campaign on Prudent Use of Antibiotics in Sicily, Italy: The Pilot Phase.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Article
- Right Here Right Now (RHRN) pilot study: testing a method of near-real-time data collection on the social determinants of health.Evidence & policy : a journal of research, debate and practice · 2018Article
- Article
- Evaluation of Facebook and Twitter Monitoring to Detect Safety Signals for Medical Products: An Analysis of Recent FDA Safety Alerts.Drug safety · 2017Article
- Article
- The Unintended Consequences of Social Media in Healthcare: New Problems and New Solutions.Yearbook of medical informatics · 2016Review
- What are the factors driving antimicrobial resistance? Perspectives from a public event in London, England.BMC infectious diseases · 2016Article
- Social Media Listening for Routine Post-Marketing Safety Surveillance.Drug safety · 2016Article
- Responsible Use of Pop Culture and Communication in the Face of Ebola Virus.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2015Article
- Characterizing the Discussion of Antibiotics in the Twittersphere: What is the Bigger Picture?Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Article
- What's trending in the infection prevention and control literature? From HIS 2012 to HIS 2014, and beyond.The Journal of hospital infection · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesSocial media has reshaped individual and institutional communication. The unrestricted access to spontaneous views and opinions of society can enrich the evaluation of healthcare interventions. Antimicrobial resistance has been identified as a global threat to health requiring collaboration between clinicians and healthcare users. We sought to explore events and individuals influencing the discourse about antibiotics on Twitter.
methodsA web-based tool (www.topsy.com) was used to detect daily occurrences of the word 'antibiotic' from 24 September 2012 to 23 September 2013 in worldwide Tweets. Activity peaks (message frequency over three times that of baseline) were analysed to identify events leading to the increase.
resultsOf 135 billion messages posted during the study period, 243000 (0.000002%) referred to 'antibiotic'. The greatest activity increases appeared after: (i) the UK Chief Medical Officer's (CMO's) declaration of antimicrobial resistance as a national risk (January 2013 and March 2013); (ii) the release of the US CDC's report on antimicrobial resistance (September 2013); and (iii) the US FDA announcement on azithromycin safety concerns (March 2013). The CMO report in March reached an estimated worldwide audience of 20 million users in a single day. However, the frequency of antibiotic Tweets returned to basal levels within 48 h of all four peaks in activity.
conclusionsInstitutional events can rapidly amplify antibiotic discussions on social media, but their short lifespan may hinder their public impact. Multipronged strategies may be required to prolong responses. Developing methods to refine social media monitoring to evaluate the impact and sustainability of societal engagement in the antimicrobial resistance agenda remains essential.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.