Organizational use of social media during a global health crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID22093043
AuthorsWanzhu Shi (0000-0002-1252-4368, University of North Florida, corresponding author), Tina Yeung (Florida International University), Jared R Dmello (0000-0001-8805-1061, Sam Houston State University), Jared Dmello
Year2024
Volume9
Publication date2024-10-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2297-900X • E-ISSN: 2297-900X
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fcomm.2024.1421165
OpenAlexW4403518863
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited66

The COVID-19 pandemic initiated new and unprecedented challenges that required organizations to curate timely, accurate and engaging public health information to communicate to local communities during a health crisis. Guided by the social media typology, content analysis was used to analyze tweets from six organizations located in a predominantly Hispanic community responsible for managing the pandemic. Findings revealed that these organizations have actively used Twitter (now known as “X”) to inform local residents about COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic and guided them how to respond to this health crisis by providing content with health-related actions. The analysis indicated that redundant digital content without using the local language of the community did not help public health officials communicate effectively to their citizens, thereby increasing their level of engagement and eliciting behavior changes. We suggest that public organizations, government, and healthcare organizations within a minority community need adopt social media strategies that incorporate the local community's language in content generation to foster ongoing conversations, mobilize actions, and elicit behavioral changes within their local communities

Business · Crisis communication · Crisis management · Political science · Public relations · Social media · Chemistry · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access