Public Perceptions About Monkeypox on Twitter: Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Background: Social media has emerged as an important source of information generated by large segments of the population, which can be particularly valuable during infectious disease outbreaks. The recent outbreak of monkeypox led to an increase in discussions about the topic on social media, thus presenting the opportunity to conduct studies based on the generated data.

Objective: By analyzing posts from Twitter (subsequently rebranded X), we aimed to identify the topics of public discourse as well as knowledge and opinions about the monkeypox virus during the 2022 outbreak.

Methods: We collected data from Twitter focusing on English-language posts containing key phrases like "monkeypox," "mpoxvirus," and "monkey pox," as well as their hashtag equivalents from August to October 2022. We preprocessed the data using natural language processing to remove duplicates and filter out noise. We then selected a random sample from the collected posts. Three annotators reviewed a sample of the posts and created a guideline for coding based on discussion. Finally, the annotators analyzed, coded, and manually categorized them first into topics and then into coarse-grained themes. Disagreements were resolved via discussion among all authors.

Results: A total of 128,615 posts were collected over a 3-month period, and 200 tweets were selected and included for manual analyses. The following 8 themes were generated from the Twitter posts: monkeypox doubts, media, monkeypox transmission, effect of monkeypox, knowledge of monkeypox, politics, monkeypox vaccine, and general comments. The most common themes from our study were monkeypox doubts and media, each accounting for 22% (44/200) of the posts. The posts represented a mix of useful information reflecting emerging knowledge on the topic as well as misinformation.

Conclusions: Social networks, such as Twitter, are useful sources of information in the early stages of outbreaks. Close to real-time identification and analyses of misinformation may help authorities take the necessary steps in a timely manner.

Keywords: Twitter; analyses; awareness; digital platform; infectious disease; misinformation; monkeypox; outbreak; perception; public health; social media.