Academic explanatory journalism and emerging Covid-19 science

How social media accounts amplify The Conversation ’s preprint coverage

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7918752
AutoresAlice Fleerackers (0000-0002-7182-4061, Simon Fraser University), Michelle Riedlinger (0000-0003-4402-4824, Queensland University of Technology, autor correspondente), Axel Bruns (0000-0002-3943-133X, Queensland University of Technology), J Burge (0000-0002-4770-1627, Queensland University of Technology)
Ano2024
Volume192
Fascículo1
Páginas130-149
Data de publicação2024-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoMedia International Australia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1329-878X • E-ISSN: 2200-467X
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1329878x221145022
OpenAlexW4388678407
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas40

This article examines the public communication of COVID-19-related ‘preprints’ (unreviewed research studies) in a digital media environment. To understand how preprint research flows from preprint server, to media story, to social media audience, we analysed engagement with ‘second-order citations’ – social media posts linking to media coverage of research – using a sample of 41 media stories published by the research amplifier platform The Conversation (TC) that mentioned preprint research during the early months of the pandemic. We applied content analyses to the Facebook and Twitter accounts sharing these stories and analysed the engagement that the posts received. We found that TC stories mentioning preprints were shared among a diverse collection of Facebook and Twitter accounts, providing a second layer of social media amplification of preprint research. Still, posts by a small proportion of ‘elite’ actors – people with prominent roles in media and communications, politics or academia – tended to generate more engagement

Conversation · Digital media · Journalism · Media studies · Political science · Preprint · Publishing · Social media · Sociology · World Wide Web · Academic Publishing and Open Access · Computer Science · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media in Health Education