Rufai, Sohaib & Bunce, Catey. (2020). World leaders' usage of Twitter in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a content analysis. Journal of public health (Oxford, England). 
https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/42/3/510/5822639

Washington State University at Tri-Cities

This study is about the effective role of world leaders (Group of Seven (G7)) on public health measures in response to COVID-19 through Twitter. The authors performed content analysis to categorize tweets into appropriate themes and analyzed associated Twitter data.

World leaders’ usage of Twitter in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a content analysis

•	The communication and language used by world leaders can influence the opinions and behavior of the public. 

•	World leaders can use their influence to address crises, especially by disseminating evidence-based information. 

•	It is essential however to consider the impact of misinformation and propaganda during times of crisis and conflict. 

•	Misinformation may also negatively impact views of the public on health matters.

•	Twitter has had a significant role during other public health outbreaks including Middle East respiratory syndrome, SARS, Ebola virus disease, Zika virus, H1N1 (‘swine flu’) and H7N9 (‘avian flu’). 

Background of usage of Twitter by world leaders

Primary research objective:

•	To explore how G7 world leaders are using Twitter in response to the COVID-19 pan- demic. 

Secondary research objectives:

•	To determine what proportion of G7 world leaders use Twitter and assess their reach (followers).

•	To perform content analysis for all G7 world leaders’ viral tweets and classify into appropriate themes.

•	To evaluate associated characteristics of these tweets, including weblinks to official government-based information sources and use of video.

•	To determine what proportion of these tweets are in non- English languages. 


Research Objectives

•	The content analysis was performed exclusively for ‘viral’ tweets.

•	Verified Twitter accounts were sought for the G7 members.

•	Primary tweets meeting the inclusion criteria, plus any secondary tweets as part of a viral thread, were included in the analysis. 

•	No language restrictions were stipulated; Twitter’s built-in Google translate function was used for non-English tweets.

•	Top tweet characteristics included ‘likes’, ‘retweets’, ‘comments’ and ‘viral tweets’. 

•	A ‘like’ indicates that a registered Twitter user appreciates the tweet, while a ‘retweet’ indicates that they have shared the tweet on their own Twitter page and a ‘comment’ indicates that they have added written commentary for the tweet. ‘Viral’ tweets means those which rapidly spread across a high number of users. 

Methodology

1.	This study likely underestimates the true reach of Twitter as these G7 members’ tweets could have been viewed without ‘liking’ them or even needing an account. 

2.	In-depth analysis of the reach of these tweets is beyond the remit of this study. 

3.	Usual bias within thematic analysis by a single analyst 

4.	study only included tweets with the keywords ‘COVID-19’ or ‘coronavirus’ to maintain a focused search. It is however possible that some relevant tweets were missed if they did not specifically include these words. 

5.	The threshold of 500 likes to qualify as a viral tweet was an arbitrary one determined a priori in the absence of a strict definition from the literature, albeit it resulted in a good range of data across all included G7 member nations. 


Limitation

The content analysis of Group of Seven (G7) world leaders' tweets regarding the COVID-19 pandemic recorded outcome measures including name, number of followers, viral tweets, associated weblinks to official sources, tweet characteristics, languages, and viral video views. Out of 203 viral tweets analyzed, three main themes emerged: informative (166 tweets, 82.8%), morale-boosting (19 tweets, 9.4%), and political (14 tweets, 6.9%). Informative tweets sought to share updates, morale-boosting tweets aimed to galvanize, and political tweets raised debate points. In cases of overlap, the majority content dictated the thematic classification.

Results of G7 Leaders' COVID-19 Tweets Content Analysis

A content analysis of Group of Seven (G7) world leaders' tweets during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that Twitter is a powerful tool for rapid communication with citizens. The majority of viral tweets were informative, which researchers consider more helpful than morale-boosting or political tweets from a public health perspective. The study highlights Twitter's user-friendly nature for searching concise COVID-19 information and its translation capabilities. However, users are urged to exercise caution and prioritize official government-based health information over general Twitter sources.

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