INFODEMIOLOGICAL STUDY ON THE USE OF FACE MASKS DURING COVID-19: COMPARING U.S. AND KOREA

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been varied responses to public health officials' recommendations about wearing face masks as a means to slow the spread of the virus. This study, by using Twitter data, aims to explore the role of digital technology in facilitating public conve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDruštvena istraživanja Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 359 - 378
Main Authors Choi, Jin-A, Park, Sejung
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Zagreb Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar 01.04.2021
Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar
Institut Drustvenih Znanosti Ivo Pilar
Institut Drustvenih Znasnosti Ivo Pilar
Subjects
Analysis
Behaviorism
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Epidemics
Health and medicine and law
Health education
Health information
Health planning
ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Masks
Network analysis
Pandemics
Public health
Public opinion
Resistance
Security and defense
Social Informatics
Social network analysis
Social networks
Social Norms / Social Control
South Korea
Technology
South Korea
United States > US
social network
coronavirus
Twitter
COVID19
infodemiology
face masks
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Summary:In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been varied responses to public health officials' recommendations about wearing face masks as a means to slow the spread of the virus. This study, by using Twitter data, aims to explore the role of digital technology in facilitating public conversations and formulating public perception regarding face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic in two contrasting contexts: the U.S. and South Korea. From January 1, 2020 to April 14, 2020, a total of 22,928 users generated 27,501 tweets regarding face masks in the U.S. network, whereas 17,267 users produced 18,686 tweets in that of South Korea. The results of the semantic network analysis shed light on Americans' initial resistance to wearing masks as well as Koreans' willingness to comply. Details of the results are discussed further in the paper. With real-time data aggregation, this study gives insight into the rising controversy regarding wearing face masks during COVID-19 while providing implications for health officials designing strategic communication messages.
ISSN:1330-0288
1848-6096
DOI:10.5559/di.30.2.09