ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2020
Public Engagement and Government Responsiveness in the Communications About COVID-19 During the Early Epidemic Stage in China: Infodemiology Study on Social Media Data.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers.
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Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mapping risk communication practices in public health emergencies: a scoping review and comparison with Italian regional pandemic plans.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Comparison of Mask-Wearing Behavior on Social Media and Its Relationship With Demographic Characteristics During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Media Data Analysis Between the United States and Japan.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Public Medical Appeals and Government Online Responses: Big Data Analysis Based on Chinese Digital Governance Platforms.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- The bright side of social media information overload for anti-COVID-19 behaviors: a stimulus-organism-response framework.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Evaluating public opinions: informing public health policy adaptations in China amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the association between socioeconomic development and health policy attention: a geographically and temporally weighted regression modeling study in China.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Topic and Trend Analysis of Weibo Discussions About COVID-19 Medications Before and After China's Exit from the Zero-COVID Policy: Retrospective Infoveillance Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Dialogic communication on local government social media during the first wave of COVID-19: Evidence from the health commissions of prefecture-level cities in China.Computers in human behavior · 2023Article
- "Do as I say but not as I do": Influence of political leaders' populist communication styles on public adherence in a crisis using the global case of COVID-19 movement restrictions.Data and information management · 2023Article
- Article
- The role played by government communication on the level of public fear in social media: An investigation into the Covid-19 crisis in Italy.Government information quarterly · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Level of Anxiety and Depression in Caregivers of Children Benefiting from Neurorehabilitation Services.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The public needs more: The informational and emotional support of public communication amidst the Covid-19 in China.International journal of disaster risk reduction : IJDRR · 2023Article
- Quantified multidimensional public sentiment characteristics on social media for public opinion management: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Reply to Giansanti, D. Why Has Digital Contact Tracing Worked Differently in Different Countries? Comment on "Cao et al. The Impact of Digital Contact Tracing Apps Overuse on Prevention of COVID-19: A Normative Activation Model Perspective.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- How Portuguese Health Entities Used Social Media to Face the Public Health Emergency during COVID-19 Disease.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Social media mining under the COVID-19 context: Progress, challenges, and opportunities.International journal of applied earth observation and geoinformation : ITC journal · 2022Article
- What Drives Elderly People in China Away from COVID-19 Information?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Cross-Verification of COVID-19 Information Obtained From Unofficial Social Media Accounts and Associated Changes in Health Behaviors: Web-Based Questionnaire Study Among Chinese Netizens.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2022Article
- Deep Neural Networks for Simultaneously Capturing Public Topics and Sentiments During a Pandemic: Application on a COVID-19 Tweet Data Set.JMIR medical informatics · 2022Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEffective risk communication about the outbreak of a newly emerging infectious disease in the early stage is critical for managing public anxiety and promoting behavioral compliance. China has experienced the unprecedented epidemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in an era when social media has fundamentally transformed information production and consumption patterns.
objectiveThis study examined public engagement and government responsiveness in the communications about COVID-19 during the early epidemic stage based on an analysis of data from Sina Weibo, a major social media platform in China.
methodsWeibo data relevant to COVID-19 from December 1, 2019, to January 31, 2020, were retrieved. Engagement data (likes, comments, shares, and followers) of posts from government agency accounts were extracted to evaluate public engagement with government posts online. Content analyses were conducted for a random subset of 644 posts from personal accounts of individuals, and 273 posts from 10 relatively more active government agency accounts and the National Health Commission of China to identify major thematic contents in online discussions. Latent class analysis further explored main content patterns, and chi-square for trend examined how proportions of main content patterns changed by time within the study time frame.
resultsThe public response to COVID-19 seemed to follow the spread of the disease and government actions but was earlier for Weibo than the government. Online users generally had low engagement with posts relevant to COVID-19 from government agency accounts. The common content patterns identified in personal and government posts included sharing epidemic situations; general knowledge of the new disease; and policies, guidelines, and official actions. However, personal posts were more likely to show empathy to affected people (χ
conclusionsThe government should closely monitor social media data to improve the timing of communications about an epidemic. As the epidemic evolves, merely sharing situation updates and policies may be insufficient to capture public interest in the messages. The government may adopt a more empathic communication style as more people are affected by the disease to address public concerns.
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