Cited by 150Public Relations and Crisis CommunicationCommunication and COVID-19 ImpactMisinformation and Its Impacts

Retweets of officials’ alarming vs reassuring messages during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for crisis management

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Rao, H. Raghav, Vemprala, Naga, Akello, Patricia, Valecha, Rohit·2020·International Journal of Information Management

Abstract

Coronavirus related discussions have spiraled at an exponential rate since its initial outbreak. By the end of May, more than 6 million people were diagnosed with this infection. Twitter witnessed an outpouring of anxious tweets through messages associated with the spread of the virus. Government and health officials replied to the troubling tweets, reassuring the public with regular alerts on the virus's progress and information to defend against the virus. We observe that social media users are worried about Covid 19-related crisis and we identify three separate conversations on virus contagion, prevention, and the economy. We analyze the tone of officials' tweet text as alarming and reassuring and capture the response of Twitter users to official communications. Such studies can provide insights to health officials and government agencies for crisis management, specifically regarding communicating emergency information to the public via social media for establishing reassurance.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102187

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  • It is critical for officials to communicate clear and reassuring messages during crisis management scenarios and to monitor social media platforms to ensure that official messages are not used and retweeted to reinforce an alarmist narrative within social communities.

    “The study posits the criticality of officials communicating clear and reassuring messages during crisis management scenarios and the monitoring of social media platforms to ensure that official messages are not used and retweeted to reinforce and alarmist narrative within social communities.”

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Authors
Rao, H. R., Vemprala, N., Akello, P., & Valecha, R.
Affiliations
The University of Texas at San Antonio (US)
Corresponding author
Rao, H. Raghav
Venue
International Journal of Information Management
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-12
Volume
55
Pages
102187
ISSN
0268-4012 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3035939752
Cited by
150
References
13
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 10
FWCI
35.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • International Journal of Information Management (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Public Relations and Crisis Communication
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, crisis management, retweets, public anxiety, emergency communication, Twitter, health communication, economic impact of COVID-19, virus prevention

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