Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31214902›Full record

ArticleCulture, medicine and psychiatry2020

Ebola and Localized Blame on Social Media: Analysis of Twitter and Facebook Conversations During the 2014-2015 Ebola Epidemic.

Melissa Roy, Nicolas Moreau, Cécile Rousseau, Arnaud Mercier, Andrew Wilson, Laëtitia Atlani-Duault

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Culture, medicine and psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. When Infodemic Meets Epidemic: Systematic Literature Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Article
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  4. Mapping the Mpox discourse: A network and sentiment analysis.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. The COVID-19 pandemic and war.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2022
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Pandémie et communautés minoritaires marginalisées : vers une approche inclusive en santé publique?Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2020
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Melissa RoySchool of Social Work, University of Ottawa, 120 University Private, Room 12002, Ottawa, ON, K1N6N5, Canada. mroy043@uottawa.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2331-9914
Nicolas MoreauSchool of Social Work, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
Cécile RousseauDivision of Social and Cultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Arnaud MercierInformation & Communication, Institut Français de Presse, University Paris 2 - Assas; CARISM, Paris, France.
Andrew WilsonFondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris, France.
Laëtitia Atlani-DuaultUniversity of Paris (CEPED, IRD) & Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris, France.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze main groups accused on social media of causing or spreading the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. In this analysis, blame is construed as a vehicle of meaning through which the lay public makes sense of an epidemic, and through which certain classes of people become "figures of blame". Data was collected from Twitter and Facebook using key word extraction, then categorized thematically. Our findings indicate an overall proximate blame tendency: blame was typically cast on "near-by" figures, namely national governments, and less so on "distant" figures, such as generalized figures of otherness ("Africans", global health authorities, global elites). Our results also suggest an evolution of online blame. In the early stage of the epidemic, blame directed at the affected populations was more prominent. However, during the peak of the outbreak, the increasingly perceived threat of inter-continental spread was accompanied by a progressively proximal blame tendency, directed at figures with whom the social media users had pre-existing biopolitical frustrations. Our study proposes that pro-active and on-going analysis of blame circulating in social media can usefully help to guide communications strategies, making them more responsive to public perceptions.

Indexed as

CommunicationEpidemicsHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHemorrhagic Fever, EbolaSocial MediaHumansQualitative ResearchBlameEbolaHealth communicationOutbreaksSocial media

Identifiers

PMID31214902
PMCPMC7088957

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.