ArticleDigital health
What makes an online help-seeking message go far during the COVID-19 crisis in mainland China? A multilevel regression analysis.
Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Promote citizen engagement with warnings - an empirical examination of government social media accounts during public health crises.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Health messages that engage audiences after the COVID-19 pandemic: content analysis of Chinese posts on social media.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Dissemination characteristics and influencing factors of topic circles in multi-layer public opinion dissemination.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A multidimensional comparative study of help-seeking messages on Weibo under different stages of COVID-19 pandemic in China.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- "Help Us!": a content analysis of COVID-19 help-seeking posts on Weibo during the first lockdown.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Can people hear others' crying?: A computational analysis of help-seeking on Weibo during COVID-19 outbreak in China.Information processing & management · 2022Article
- Topical and emotional expressions regarding extreme weather disasters on social media: a comparison of posts from official media and the public.Humanities & social sciences communications · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
Various studies have explored the underlying mechanisms that enhance the overall reach of a support-seeking message on social media networks. However, little attention has been paid to an under-examined structural feature of help-seeking message diffusion, information diffusion depth, and how support-seeking messages can traverse vertically into social media networks to reach other users who are not directly connected to the help-seeker. Using the multilevel regression to analyze 705 help-seeking posts regarding COVID-19 on Sina Weibo, we examined sender, content, and environmental factors to investigate what makes help-seeking messages traverse deeply into social media networks. Results suggested that bandwagon cues, anger, instrumental appeal, and intermediate self-disclosure facilitate the diffusion depth of help-seeking messages. However, the effects of these factors were moderated by the epidemic severity. Implications of the findings on support-seeking behavior and narrative strategies on social media were also discussed.
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