H1N1 and Twitter

Chew, Cynthia, and Gunther Eysenbach. "Pandemics in the Age of Twitter: Content Analysis of Tweets during the 2009 H1N1 Outbreak." PLoS ONE 5.11 (2010): 1-13. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Apr. 2011.

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In this article, authors Cynthia Chew and Gunther Evsenbach talk about the uses of Twitter while the H1N1 pandemic was present in 2009. From May 1st through December 31, 2009, Chew and Evsenbach took 5,395 tweets that included “swine flu,” “swineflu,” or “H1N1,” and looked for tweet content. They found in their studies that many of them were used to inform the public on certain aspects of the pandemic, but the tweets were also used to give web-site links containing information on the virus. They also noticed that many of the websites were newly formed and only 1.5% of them were health and government agencies. Chew and Evsenbach found how useful Twitter can be and how it can be “used for real-time content analysis and knowledge translation research.” The overall point of view of the authors was that, during a pandemic, Twitter can inform the public on key facts they need to know. The authors helped readers understand that Twitter has endless opportunities of how it can be used.

Chew and Evsenbach’s point of view is useful and important to the reader because it provides extensive research to back their opinion up. They include many graphs and tables visually showing their results in her data. This helps the reader see the overall usefulness of Twitter and also helps the reader form a more educated opinion on the debate of Twitter and censorship. The point of view helps the reader form their opinion because it presents the data in many different ways, making the article appeal to many different readers. Their point of view also helps readers become more educated on how Twitter can be used as a tool to inform the public on diseases or current issues. Their article adds to the debate because they present their opinion and also talk about why they feels the way they do. This helps the readers who may disagree with them see why and how they formed their opinion, making it easier for the reader to form theirs.