Large-Scale, Mixed-Methods Analyses to Understand Social Media-Mediated Health-Related Communications during an Epidemic

MPhil Thesis Defence


Title: "Large-Scale, Mixed-Methods Analyses to Understand Social 
Media-Mediated Health-Related Communications during an Epidemic"

By

Mr. Wenjie YANG


Abstract

Social media has substantially reduced communication barriers between 
ordinary people, patients, and healthcare providers. This popular Internet 
application is increasingly being used for health-related communications, 
such as by individuals seeking health information or services and by 
public health agencies for health promotion. However, the recent outbreaks 
of health crises like COVID-19 have created significant challenges for 
online health-related interaction. During epidemics, when online spaces 
are often flooded with (mis)information, it can be difficult and 
inefficient for people to obtain and exchange information using social 
networking services that are not designed to mediate disaster 
communications. Despite this, it remains unclear how social media 
technologies can be better used or improved to facilitate health-related 
communications during emergencies.

In order to fill this gap, this thesis examines two significant cases of 
health-related communications during COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese social 
media, including online help-seeking by COVID patients and the spread and 
debunking of health rumors. Specifically, we ask 1) how people use social 
media for health-related communications during an epidemic, and 2) what 
are the affordances and limitations of the current social media design for 
this purpose? We answer the questions by analyzing over 100M Weibo posts 
with mixed methods, such as natural language processing, statistical 
analysis, and content analysis.

As an interdisciplinary study, this thesis adds empirical understanding to 
human behavior, provides design implications regarding social media design 
for human-computer interaction (HCI) communities, and sheds light on 
better practices for crisis management.


Date:  			Wednesday, 8 June 2022

Time:			2:00pm - 4:00pm

Zoom Meeting:
https://hkust.zoom.us/j/97934980614?pwd=S2Exd21xeGRxTVArUDBMN2ZSUlkwQT09

Committee Members:	Dr. Xiaojuan Ma (Supervisor)
 			Dr. Yangqiu Song (Chairperson)
 			Prof. Bo Li


**** ALL are Welcome ****