Social network analysis of Twitter data from Pakistan during COVID-19
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-03-2021-0022 |
| Published date | 30 November 2021 |
| Date | 30 November 2021 |
| Pages | 353-364 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
| Author | Syeda Hina Batool,Wasim Ahmed,Khalid Mahmood,Ashraf Sharif |
Social network analysis of Twitter data from
Pakistan during COVID-19
Syeda Hina Batool
Institute of Information Management, University of the Punjab Quaid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan
Wasim Ahmed
Management School, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
Khalid Mahmood
Institute of Information Management, University of the Punjab Quaid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan, and
Ashraf Sharif
The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –The use of social media has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media platforms provide opportunities to share news, ideas
and personal stories. Twitter is used by citizens in Pakistan to respond and comment on emerging news stories and events. Howe ver, it is not known
whether Twitter played a positive or negative role in spreading updates and preventive messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of
this study is to analyse content from Twitter during the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach –NodeXL was used to retrieve data using the keyword ﻭﺍﺋﺮﺱﮐﻮﺭﻭﻧﺎ (written in Urdu and which translates to
Coronavirus). The first data set (Case Study 1) was based on 10,284 Twitter users from the end of March. The second data set (Case Study 2) was
based on 10,644 Twitter users from the start of April. The theoretical lens of effective message framing was used to classify the most retweeted
content on Twitter.
Findings –Twitter was used for personal and professional projections and included certain tweets included political motives even during the
unfolding health crisis. There appeared to be very few successful attempts to use Twitter as a tool for health awareness and risk communication. The
empirical findings indicate that the most retweeted messages were gain-framed and can be classified as personal, informative and politica l in
nature.
Originality/value –The present study provides insights likely to be of interest to researchers, health organizations, citizens, government and
politicians that are interested in making more effective use of social media for the purposes of health promotion. The authors also provide novel
insights into the key topics of discussions, websites and hashtags used by Pakistani Twitter users during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords Pakistan, Social media, Twitter, Health communication, Coronavirus, COVID-19
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Social networking sites (SNS) are a source of information and
awareness in the domain of public health.Clinicians and public
health institutions may run awareness campaignsthrough SNS
to disseminate public health messages. A recent major public
health concern is the COVID-19 pandemic which has rapidly
spread across the world.
A major public health challenge has been to stop the spread
of COVID-19. Since the beginningof the pandemic, the World
Health Organization has declared COVID-19 to be a
worldwide threat. A number of information channels such as
broadcast and print media played a positive role by including
information on prevention messages, updates and guidelines.
Gao et al. (2020) reported that a number of global cross-
sectional surveys investigated the exposure of citizens to social
media platforms and found large increases in users accessing
various platforms. However, increaseduse of social media also
led to the transmission of misinformation(Ahmed et al., 2020).
The forced isolation policiesand lockdown led to an increase in
people’s online interactions. Specifically, in Pakistan, social
media usage increased during the pandemic and a total of 78
million broadband subscribers were using social media, Web-
conferencing servicesand other interactive applications to work
from home and for social connectivity(Murtaza, 2020).
Recent work (Mittal et al., 2021) has examined content
shared on social media platforms in English predominantly
covering the USA and the UK. There is a lack of research in
developing Asian countries in regard to analysing social media
content and particularly social media content from Pakistan.
The current issue and full text archiveof this journal is available on Emerald
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
50/4 (2022) 353–364
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-03-2021-0022]
Received 3 March 2021
Revised 4 June 2021
6 August 2021
13 September 2021
22 October 2021
Accepted 8 November 2021
353
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