#Putkids1st: Health Professionals Using Social Media for Public Policy Advocacy-From Collective Action to Connective Action

Charles Wood; Pierangelo Rosati; Theo Lynn

doi:10.3390/children10081343

#Putkids1st: Health Professionals Using Social Media for Public Policy Advocacy-From Collective Action to Connective Action

Children (Basel). 2023 Aug 3;10(8):1343. doi: 10.3390/children10081343.

Authors

Charles Wood¹, Pierangelo Rosati², Theo Lynn³

Affiliations

¹ Collins College of Business, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA.
² J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway, H91 YK8V Galway, Ireland.
³ Irish Institute of Digital Business, Dublin City University, D09 RFK0 Dublin, Ireland.

Abstract

This study examines public policy advocacy by pediatricians and other health professionals in the hashtag community: #putkids1st. The study explores 4321 tweets that feature the hashtag, generated by 1231 unique users largely drawn from the American Association of Pediatricians and its members. The data are used to explore the structural dynamics of the hashtag community, the role of homophily, and to test a source-message framework to predict and recommendations to help improve engagement and retransmission of professional health advocacy messages.

Keywords: #putkids1st; electronic word of mouth; healthcare; pediatricians; professional organizations; public policy advocacy.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Irish Institute of Digital Business at Dublin City University.