Social Media

This week’s review of research addressing communication and COVID-19 focuses on social media, with many studies focusing specifically on Twitter. Here is what we know: Public’s Views of Social Media Social media is widely used by nearly all segments of Read More

Characteristics of COVID-19 Spokespersons In this study, scholars studied the COVID-19 communication from 20 heads of government from around the world. Understanding the language used is important because it has been shown to affect compliance for public health recommendations. Particularly Read More

A wealth of information about COVID-19 has been circulating from multiple sources, but to ensure that the public understands what they are reading, it is important that information is presented with health literacy in mind. In this study, researchers evaluated Read More

Overcoming Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric With the recent announcement of an impending COVID-19 vaccine, former CDC director Tom Frieden commented on the effect of misinformation and vaccine hesitancy. He argues that critical components of effective public health risk messaging has been conspicuously Read More

The United States has failed to follow many of the best practices in health and crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, given that the virus continues to spread, there is still an opportunity to use evidence-based practices moving forward Read More

Communicating through Social Media It is important for effective risk communication during COVID-19 to instruct, inform, and motivate appropriate self-protective behaviors, and it is also important to monitor the changing environment and address the informational needs of the public. This Read More

This week is full of information about misinformation. All across the globe, misinformation about COVID-19 is a major threat to public health. In this research study of prevalence and predictors of belief in misinformation across the United States, the United Read More

Misinformation on Social Media This month, the American Journal of Public Health published a special issue on health misinformation on social media. Below are just a few highlights from the issue: Five evidence-based recommendations for government and public health organizations Read More

Official Communication Strategies and Effectiveness Two articles discuss how government sources are the most used and trusted sources of information about COVID-19. One article specifically focuses on how young adults use government websites more than other age groups, and how Read More

In this article, health risk communication scholars use systems theory to analyze U.S. government communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and offer recommendations for local, national, and international governments to effectively communicate with the public: Actively seek and respond to relevant Read More