Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34167883›Full record

Observational studyThe Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine2021

Characterizing COVID-19 Content Posted to TikTok: Public Sentiment and Response During the First Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Lauren Southwick, Sharath C Guntuku, Elissa V Klinger, Emily Seltzer, Haley J McCalpin, Raina M Merchant

Registry-linked trialAbstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06405048 (Evaluating the Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Mock-up Fact-checking Extension to Improve Ability to Debunk HPV Vaccine Misinformation Among Parents of Middle School Girls), which is not on this map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing 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.

NCT06405048 naunknown statusnot on this mapstarted 2024, after this paper: background citation

Evaluating the Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Mock-up Fact-checking Extension to Improve Ability to Debunk HPV Vaccine Misinformation Among Parents of Middle School Girls: A Survey Experiment

TypeinterventionalSponsorFudan UniversityRan2024 to 2024Enrolled1,200ConditionsHPV VaccineArmsMobile Weibo post screenshot with mock-up Chinese fact-checking extension
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Review
  6. Exploring How Rheumatic Fever Is Portrayed on TikTok: A Descriptive Content Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
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  13. Infodemic: Challenges and solutions in topic discovery and data process.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2023
    Article
  14. Popular science and education of cosmetic surgery in China: Quality and reliability evaluation of Douyin short videos.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2023
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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.

Lauren SouthwickPenn Medicine Center for Digital Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: lauren.southwick@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
Sharath C GuntukuPenn Medicine Center for Digital Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Elissa V KlingerPenn Medicine Center for Digital Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Emily SeltzerPenn Medicine Center for Digital Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Haley J McCalpinPenn Medicine Center for Digital Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Raina M MerchantPenn Medicine Center for Digital Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe purpose of this study was to characterize COVID-19 content posted by users and disseminated via TikTok, a social media platform that has become known largely as an entertainment platform for viral video-sharing. We sought to capture how TikTok videos posted during the initial months of the COVID pandemic changed over time as cases accelerated.

methodsThis study is an observational analysis of sequential TikTok videos with #coronavirus from January to March 2020. Videos were independently coded to assess content (e.g., health relatedness, humor, fear, empathy), misinformation, and public sentiment. To assess engagement, we also codified how often videos were shared relative to their content.

resultsWe coded 750 videos and approximately one in four videos tagged with #coronavirus featured health-related content such as featuring objects such as face masks, hand sanitizer, and other cleaning products. Most videos evoked "humor/parody," whereas 15% and 6% evoked "fear" and "empathy", respectively. TikTok videos posted in March 2020 had the largest number of shares and comments compared with January and February 2020. The proportion of shares and comments for "misleading and incorrect information" featured in videos was lower in March than in January and February 2020. There was no statistical difference between the share and comment counts of videos coded as "incorrect/incomplete" and "correct" over the entire time period.

conclusionsAnalyzing readily available social media platforms, such as TikTok provides real-time insights into public views, frequency and types of misinformation, and norms toward COVID-19. Analyzing TikTok videos has the potential to be used to inform public health messaging and public health mitigation strategies.

Indexed as

COVID-19Social MediaHumansPandemicsPublic HealthSARS-CoV-2COVID-19Health messagingInfodemicSocial mediaTikTok

Identifiers

PMID34167883
PMCPMC8217440

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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.