IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfa/smcjnl/v12y2024i4p311-324.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Navigating the COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Content Analysis of Organizational Communication Strategies on Social Media

Author

Listed:
  • Yuhan Wang

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented threat to global health and well-being, with social media emerging as a pivotal platform for organizations to disseminate outbreak-related information swiftly, thereby shaping public risk perceptions and influencing preventive behaviours. Guided by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) model, this study examines COVID-19-related content posted by organizations on Sina Weibo, focusing on the communication strategies employed and their impact on public engagement. Using content analysis and Semantic Network Analysis (SNA), a dataset of 10,996 salient Weibo posts was collected and analysed. Findings reveal that word prevalence, inter-word relationships, and the use of CERC model elements varied across different crisis stages and organization types. The analysis indicates that posts predominantly emphasized case reports, responders, governmental interventions, and positive outcomes. Furthermore, in terms of public engagement, certain content dimensions—such as requests for feedback, expressions of appreciation, and provision of detailed informational resources—were particularly effective in drawing public attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuhan Wang, 2024. "Navigating the COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Content Analysis of Organizational Communication Strategies on Social Media," Studies in Media and Communication, Redfame publishing, vol. 12(4), pages 311-324, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:rfa:smcjnl:v:12:y:2024:i:4:p:311-324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://redfame.com/journal/index.php/smc/article/download/7347/6714
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://redfame.com/journal/index.php/smc/article/view/7347
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reynolds, Barbara J., 2010. "Principles to enable leaders to navigate the harsh realities of crisis and risk communication," Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Henry Stewart Publications, vol. 4(3), pages 262-273, July.
    2. José van Dijck & Thomas Poell, 2013. "Understanding Social Media Logic," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(1), pages 2-14.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mariek Vanden Abeele & Ralf De Wolf & Rich Ling, 2018. "Mobile Media and Social Space: How Anytime, Anyplace Connectivity Structures Everyday Life," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 5-14.
    2. Luis-Millán González & José Devís-Devís & Maite Pellicer-Chenoll & Miquel Pans & Alberto Pardo-Ibañez & Xavier García-Massó & Fernanda Peset & Fernanda Garzón-Farinós & Víctor Pérez-Samaniego, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Sport in Twitter: A Quantitative and Qualitative Content Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Estela Marine-Roig & Eva Martin-Fuentes & Natalia Daries-Ramon, 2017. "User-Generated Social Media Events in Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Martin Echeverría, 2023. "Experiencing Political Advertising Through Social Media Logic: A Qualitative Inquiry," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 127-136.
    5. Celina Navarro & Gemma Gómez-Bernal, 2022. "The Use of Social Media by Spanish Feminist Organizations: Collectivity From Individualism," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 93-103.
    6. Dolata, Ulrich, 2017. "Social movements and the Internet: The sociotechnical constitution of collective action," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2017-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    7. Kenneth L. Hacker & Vanessa R. Mendez, 2016. "Toward a Model of Strategic Influence, International Broadcasting, and Global Engagement," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(2), pages 69-91.
    8. Kaisu Koivumäki & Timo Koivumäki & Erkki Karvonen, 2020. "“On Social Media Science Seems to Be More Human”: Exploring Researchers as Digital Science Communicators," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 425-439.
    9. Daniele Battista, 2023. "Winning against All Odds: Elly Schlein’s Successful Election Campaign and Instagram Communication Strategies," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, May.
    10. Rodrigo Quintas da Silva, 2018. "A Portuguese exception to right-wing populism," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-5, December.
    11. Francois Schalkwyk & Jonathan Dudek & Rodrigo Costas, 2020. "Communities of shared interests and cognitive bridges: the case of the anti-vaccination movement on Twitter," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1499-1516, November.
    12. Reimer, Thomas, 2023. "Environmental factors to maximize social media engagement: A comprehensive framework," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Jan Johansson, 2022. "User Involvement: Effective Performance in Sustainable Social Housing," European Journal of Social Sciences Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 5, January -.
    14. Kelly, Dr Gráinne & McAdam, Maura, 2022. "Scaffolding liminality: The lived experience of women entrepreneurs in digital spaces," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    15. Mikko Villi & Janne Matikainen, 2016. "Participation in Social Media: Studying Explicit and Implicit Forms of Participation in Communicative Social Networks," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(4), pages 109-117.
    16. Mieke Verloo, 2018. "Gender Knowledge, and Opposition to the Feminist Project: Extreme-Right Populist Parties in the Netherlands," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(3), pages 20-30.
    17. Precious N. Chatterje-Doody & Rhys Crilley, 2019. "Making Sense of Emotions and Affective Investments in War: RT and the Syrian Conflict on YouTube," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 167-178.
    18. Colin Agur, 2019. "Insularized Connectedness: Mobile Chat Applications and News Production," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 179-188.
    19. Trang Thi Quynh Dinh & Janne Tienari, 2022. "Brothers and broken dreams: Men, masculinity, and emotions in platform capitalism," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 609-625, March.
    20. Juho Ruotsalainen & Mikko Villi, 2018. "Hybrid Engagement: Discourses and Scenarios of Entrepreneurial Journalism," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 79-90.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rfa:smcjnl:v:12:y:2024:i:4:p:311-324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Redfame publishing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.