Articlegold2022

Improving the Communication and Credibility of Government Media in Response to Public Health Emergencies: Analysis of Tweets From the WeChat Official Accounts of 10 Chinese Health Commissioners

28 citations0/0 files storedFrontiers in Public Health

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Communication and COVID-19 Impact Public Relations and Crisis Communication Misinformation and Its Impacts

Abstract

Background: A significant public health emergency has appeared worldwide since the beginning of 2020. The spread of negative information about COVID-19 on social media poses a challenge and threat to public health disposition and the credibility of government public opinion. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the rules and characteristics of government media in disseminating information on public emergencies. In addition, find ways and means to improve government media's communication power and credibility. Method: Based on relevant theories and measures of information econometrics, 10 WeChat official accounts of the Chinese government were taken as examples. The Python crawler tool was used to collect data of 10 WeChat official accounts-related tweets. In addition, this study used various tools, such as ROST, UCINET, and SPSS, for statistical analysis and co-word analysis of the data. Result: From January 17 to March 31, 2020, 6,612 COVID-19-related tweets were published by 10 WeChat official accounts, which broadcast epidemic overview, epidemic prevention and control, science and disinformation, epidemic assistance, epidemic impact, and negative impact. By analyzing the posting time and content of the tweets, we found that changes in the number of articles posted by the WeChat and changes in content and the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic are nearly synchronized, and most tweets are published at 8:00 am. Furthermore, based on the analytics of high dissemination index and high-frequency words, we propose that there is a significant correlation between the strength of independence and the credibility of the WeChat official account. Conclusion: The three elements of WeChat communication (value, interest, and moving) and the degree of independent innovation of public numbers impact the communication power and credibility of government media. First, if the articles published by the WeChat official account are valuable, interesting, and moving, the communication power of the WeChat official account would get more powerful. Second, increased ability for independent innovation has a positive impact on enhancing the WeChat official account's credibility. Third, government media can improve its governance effects of public health emergencies by enhancing their communication power and credibility.

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References

2020Unpacking the black box: How to promote citizen engagement through government social media during the COVID-19 crisis 2002Infodemiology: the epidemiology of (mis)information 2021Citizens' trust in government as a function of good governance and government agency's provision of quality information on social media during COVID-19 2017How the public uses social media wechat to obtain health information in china: a survey study 2020Public Engagement and Government Responsiveness in the Communications About COVID-19 During the Early Epidemic Stage in China: Infodemiology Study on Social Media Data 2018Health Care Professionals’ Social Media Behavior and the Underlying Factors of Social Media Adoption and Use: Quantitative Study 2020Digital Media’s Role in the COVID-19 Pandemic 2021Attitude Toward Protective Behavior Engagement During COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia: The Role of E-government and Social Media

Cited by

2024How to improve the effectiveness of the cooperation networks of emergency science communication for public health emergencies 2023Public health agencies’ use of social media for communication during pandemics: a scoping review of the literature

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