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Local Chatter or International Buzz? Language Differences on Posts About Zika Research on Twitter and Facebook
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 13, Iss 1, p e0190482 (2018), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Background When the Zika virus outbreak became a global health emergency in early 2016, the scientific community responded with an increased output of Zika-related research. This upsurge in research naturally made its way into academic journals along with editorials, news, and reports. However, it is not yet known how or whether these scholarly communications were distributed to the populations most affected by Zika. Methodology/Principal findings To understand how scientific outputs about Zika reached global and local audiences, we collected Tweets and Facebook posts that linked to Zika-related research in the first six months of 2016. Using a language detection algorithm, we found that up to 90% of Twitter and 76% of Facebook posts are in English. However, when none of the authors of the scholarly article are from English-speaking countries, posts on both social media are less likely to be in English. The effect is most pronounced on Facebook, where the likelihood of posting in English is between 11 and 16% lower when none of the authors are from English-speaking countries, as compared to when some or all are. Similarly, posts about papers written with a Brazilian author are 13% more likely to be in Portuguese on Facebook than when made on Twitter. Conclusions/Significance Our main conclusion is that scholarly communication on Twitter and Facebook of Zika-related research is dominated by English, despite Brazil being the epicenter of the Zika epidemic. This result suggests that scholarly findings about the Zika virus are unlikely to be distributed directly to relevant populations through these popular online mediums. Nevertheless, there are differences between platforms. Compared to Twitter, scholarly communication on Facebook is more likely to be in the language of an author’s country. The Zika outbreak provides a useful case-study for understanding how scientific outputs are communicated to relevant populations. Our results suggest that Facebook is a more effective channel than Twitter, if communication is desired to be in the native language of the affected country. Further research should explore how local media—such as governmental websites, newspapers and magazines, as well as television and radio—disseminate scholarly publication.
- Subjects :
- RNA viruses
Internationality
Facebook
First language
Social Sciences
lcsh:Medicine
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Scholarly communication
Geographical locations
Language differences
Disease Outbreaks
Newspaper
Zika virus
0302 clinical medicine
Sociology
Medicine and Health Sciences
Global health
Psychology
030212 general & internal medicine
lcsh:Science
Language
media_common
Social Research
Multidisciplinary
Marketing buzz
biology
Zika Virus Infection
Social Communication
Social research
3. Good health
Social Networks
Medical Microbiology
Viral Pathogens
Viruses
language
Pathogens
0305 other medical science
Network Analysis
Brazil
Research Article
Computer and Information Sciences
media_common.quotation_subject
Twitter
030231 tropical medicine
Microbiology
03 medical and health sciences
Political science
Perception
Humans
Social media
Set (psychology)
Microbial Pathogens
030505 public health
Flaviviruses
lcsh:R
Cognitive Psychology
Organisms
Media studies
Biology and Life Sciences
Zika Virus
South America
biology.organism_classification
Communications
language.human_language
Cognitive Science
lcsh:Q
People and places
Portuguese
Social Media
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15565068
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- SSRN Electronic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3f0007419185eea1f3bb830eef58a268