Narrative Trends over the COVID-19 Pandemic: Digital Social Listening to Inform WHO Infodemic Management

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2023 May 18:302:893-894. doi: 10.3233/SHTI230297.

Abstract

The COVID-19 infodemic is an overwhelming amount of information that has challenged pandemic communication and epidemic response. WHO has produced weekly infodemic insights reports to identify questions, concerns, information voids expressed and experienced by people online. Publicly available data was collected and categorized to a public health taxonomy to enable thematic analysis. Analysis showed three key periods of narrative volume peaks. Understanding how conversations change over time can help inform future infodemic preparedness and prevention planning.

Keywords: COVID-19; Social listening; infodemic; pandemic preparedness; pandemic response; social media; taxonomy.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Infodemic
  • Pandemics
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Social Media*
  • World Health Organization