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Using Twitter to Explore (un)Healthy Housing: Learning from the #Characterbuildings Campaign in New Zealand

Author

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  • Elinor Chisholm

    (He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, P.O. Box 7343, Wellington 6242, New Zealand)

  • Kimberley O’Sullivan

    (He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, P.O. Box 7343, Wellington 6242, New Zealand)

Abstract

While increasingly used for research, Twitter remains largely untapped as a source of data about housing. We explore the growth of social media and use of Twitter in health and social research, and question why housing researchers have avoided using Twitter to explore housing issues to date. We use the #characterbuildings campaign, initiated by an online media platform in New Zealand in 2014 to illustrate that Twitter can provide insights into housing as a public health and social problem. We find that Twitter users share details of problems with past and present homes on this public platform, and that this readily available data can contribute to the case for improving building quality as a means of promoting public health. Moreover, the way people responded to the request to share details about their housing experiences provides insight into how New Zealanders conceive of housing problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Elinor Chisholm & Kimberley O’Sullivan, 2017. "Using Twitter to Explore (un)Healthy Housing: Learning from the #Characterbuildings Campaign in New Zealand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:11:p:1424-:d:119743
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Stefano Bruzzese & Wasim Ahmed & Simone Blanc & Filippo Brun, 2022. "Ecosystem Services: A Social and Semantic Network Analysis of Public Opinion on Twitter," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Ana Reyes-Menendez & José Ramón Saura & Cesar Alvarez-Alonso, 2018. "Understanding #WorldEnvironmentDay User Opinions in Twitter: A Topic-Based Sentiment Analysis Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Jose Ramon Saura & Pedro Palos-Sanchez & Miguel Angel Rios Martin, 2018. "Attitudes Expressed in Online Comments about Environmental Factors in the Tourism Sector: An Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, March.

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