ArticleFrontiers in public health2022
New Insights Into the Social Rumor Characteristics During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- How Can Multi-Criteria Portfolio Decision Analysis Help Mitigate Mis/Disinformation?Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2026Article
- How Does Psychological Distance Influence Public Risky Behavior During Public Health Emergencies.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Online rumors during the COVID-19 pandemic: co-evolution of themes and emotions.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- How can the collaborative participation of regulators, whistleblowers, and parties effectively promote rumor management in public health emergencies?Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: In the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, several social rumors in the form of false news, conspiracy theories, and magical cures had ever been shared and spread among the general public at an alarming rate, causing public panic and increasing the complexity and difficulty of social management. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the characteristics and the driving factors of the social rumors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Based on a sample of 1,537 rumors collected from Sina Weibo's debunking account, this paper first divided the sample into four categories and calculated the risk level of all kinds of rumors. Then, time evolution analysis and correlation analysis were adopted to study the time evolution characteristics and the spatial and temporal correlation characteristics of the rumors, and the four stages of development were also divided according to the number of rumors. Besides, to extract the key driving factors from 15 rumor-driving factors, the social network analysis method was used to investigate the driver-driver 1-mode network characteristics, the generation driver-rumor 2-mode network characteristics, and the spreading driver-rumor 2-mode characteristics. Results: Research findings showed that the number of rumors related to COVID-19 were gradually decreased as the outbreak was brought under control, which proved the importance of epidemic prevention and control to maintain social stability. Combining the number and risk perception levels of the four types of rumors, it could be concluded that the Creating Panic-type rumors were the most harmful to society. The results of rumor drivers indicated that panic psychology and the lag in releasing government information played an essential role in driving the generation and spread of rumors. The public's low scientific literacy and difficulty in discerning highly confusing rumors encouraged them to participate in spreading rumors. Conclusion: The study revealed the mechanism of rumors. In addition, studies involving rumors on different emergencies and social platforms are warranted to enrich the findings.
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