{"id":279309,"date":"2021-06-20T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/we-collected-84-million-pandemic-related-tweets-heres-what-we-learned\/"},"modified":"2021-06-20T16:00:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T13:00:46","slug":"we-collected-84-million-pandemic-related-tweets-heres-what-we-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-collected-84-million-pandemic-related-tweets-heres-what-we-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"#We collected 84 million pandemic-related tweets, here&#8217;s what we learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3a1c1ec4253\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3a1c1ec4253\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-collected-84-million-pandemic-related-tweets-heres-what-we-learned\/#Twitter_as_research_tool\" >Twitter as research tool<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-collected-84-million-pandemic-related-tweets-heres-what-we-learned\/#Archiving_Twitter\" >Archiving Twitter<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-collected-84-million-pandemic-related-tweets-heres-what-we-learned\/#Reducing_vaccine_hesitancy\" >Reducing vaccine hesitancy<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#We collected 84 million pandemic-related tweets, here&#8217;s what we learned<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>The <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DHSCgovuk\/status\/1221076076224446465\">first tweet<\/a> that the UK\u2019s Department of Health and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social<\/a> Care published about its new coronavirus testing regime came on January 25 2020. Less than a week later, the department <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DHSCgovuk\/status\/1223244663982895111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1223244663982895111%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fdrafts%2F160675%2Fedit\">tweeted<\/a> its first announcement of two positive tests for COVID-19 in the UK, foreshadowing a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-54337098\">chain of events<\/a> that would have a profound effect on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n<p>As the coronavirus spread, these initial tweets were joined by millions of others, as people reacted to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/coronavirus-why-people-are-panic-buying-loo-roll-and-how-to-stop-it-133115\">panic buying<\/a>, rumoured <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/timeline-lockdown-web.pdf\">lockdowns<\/a> and heart-wrenching <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/coronavirus-they-call-it-the-apocalypse-inside-italys-hardest-hit-hospital-11960597\">stories<\/a> from across the world.<\/p>\n<p>Soon, tweets about masks, the R number and herd immunity were competing with misinformation and conspiracy theories as the country \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/worklife\/article\/20210226-the-darkly-soothing-compulsion-of-doomscrolling\">doomscrolled<\/a>\u201d through Twitter. Eventually, tweets about loo roll would be replaced by tweets about the rollout of vaccines worldwide \u2013 and the long-awaited <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/prime-minister-sets-out-roadmap-to-cautiously-ease-lockdown-restrictions\">roadmap<\/a> back to normality.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, these tweets are a sprawling historical document \u2013 a modern-day <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Samuel-Pepys\/The-diary\">diary of Samuel Pepys<\/a> \u2013 revealing how life has changed during the pandemic. But with millions of tweets to sift through, making sense of them all requires careful archiving.<\/p>\n<p>My colleagues and I have performed this archiving, creating a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/traccovid.com\/\">publicly accessible database<\/a> of pandemic-related tweets that anyone can access. We hope the archive will help researchers and the public make sense of all that\u2019s changed since the early weeks of 2020.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Twitter_as_research_tool\"><\/span>Twitter as research tool<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Twitter is already regularly used as a research tool. One particularly interesting <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-021-81333-1\">study<\/a> revealed how early warning signs of COVID-19 spreading in Europe, signalled by an uptick in the use of words like \u201cpneumonia\u201d, were on Twitter as early as January 2020.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \">\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"A graph of tweets meaking in mid-March\" width=\"600\" height=\"415\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=415&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=415&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=415&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=521&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=521&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=521&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fsocialmedia%2F2021%2F06%2F20%2F84-million-tweets-pandemic-results-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Our Twitter archive also shows how tweets mentioning \u2018pneumonia\u2019 increased long before March 2020. Author provided\" data-title=\"Share Our Twitter archive also shows how tweets mentioning \u2018pneumonia\u2019 increased long before March 2020. Author provided on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Our Twitter archive also shows how tweets mentioning \u2018pneumonia\u2019 increased long before March 2020. Author provided on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>Our Twitter archive also shows how tweets mentioning \u2018pneumonia\u2019 increased long before March 2020. Author provided<\/figcaption><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"A graph of tweets meaking in mid-March\" width=\"600\" height=\"415\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=415&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=415&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=415&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=521&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=521&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407018\/original\/file-20210617-17-114uti2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=521&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure><figcaption\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In other work, researchers have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jpubhealth\/article\/42\/3\/510\/5822639\">examined<\/a> how world leaders turned to Twitter during the pandemic, and others have created <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/ftp\/arxiv\/papers\/2003\/2003.10359.pdf\">datasets<\/a> to expose how the public perceived their COVID-19 policies. Another <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.jmir.org\/2020\/2\/e19273\">dataset<\/a>, from the University of Southern California, contains 123 million tweets, covering English, French, Thai, Indonesian and more.<\/p>\n<p>Then came studies of misinformation on Twitter, which has been a key concern since the start of the pandemic. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S2468696420300458\">One study<\/a> found that completely false claims spread faster than tweets with partially false claims. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7152572\/\">Another study<\/a> found that unverified personal Twitter accounts featured the highest rate of COVID-19 misinformation, and that hashtags like #ncov2019 were more likely to be used in misinformation tweets than #Covid19.<\/p>\n<p>Misinformation has also led to the emergence of conspiracy theories. Investigation shows they claim the virus was developed as <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Weaponized-How-rumors-about-COVID-19s-origins-led-to-a-narrative-arms-race.pdf\">a biological weapon<\/a>, that the vaccination programme is a front for a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/52847648\">mass surveillance programme<\/a>, and even that the entire pandemic <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/2053951720938405\">is a hoax<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These findings helped pressure <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/firstdraftnews.org\/latest\/how-social-media-platforms-are-responding-to-the-coronavirus-infodemic\/\">social media companies<\/a> to ban persistent offenders, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/canadian-journal-of-emergency-medicine\/article\/twitter-pandemic-the-critical-role-of-twitter-in-the-dissemination-of-medical-information-and-misinformation-during-the-covid19-pandemic\/9F42C2D99CA00FBAE50A66D107322211\">remove misinformation tweets<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2020\/6\/9\/21284940\/twitter-5g-coronavirus-covid-19-fact-check-disinformation-conspiracy-theories-label\">hire more fact checkers<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/coronavirus-live-updates\/2020\/05\/11\/853886052\/twitter-to-label-potentially-harmful-coronavirus-tweets\">add warnings<\/a> to disputed information.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Archiving_Twitter\"><\/span><strong>Archiving Twitter<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As useful as all these studies are in capturing public opinion and encouraging platforms to moderate misinformation, most of their datasets are not publicly accessible and you need special skills to access and analyse them.<\/p>\n<p>To address this barrier, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bcu.ac.uk\/english\/research\/english-linguistics\/rdues\/research-projects\/trac-covid\">our team<\/a> at Birmingham City University has developed the Trust and Communication: Coronavirus Online Visual Dashboard (<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/traccovid.com\/\">TRAC:COVID<\/a>). It\u2019s a collection of over 84 million tweets in English that contain words and hashtags related to the pandemic. It currently covers UK tweets from January 2020 to April 2021, and will be extended as we acquire more data.<\/p>\n<p>TRAC:COVID is built on methods from a discipline known as corpus linguistics, which uses software to research a large body of text, known as a corpus. A corpus can be any size, but many of the largest online corpora contain millions or even billions of words.<\/p>\n<p>Corpus linguistics has recently been used to analyse healthcare communications, from work on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/The-Language-of-Patient-Feedback-A-Corpus-Linguistic-Study-of-Online-Health\/Baker-Brookes-Evans\/p\/book\/9781138702776\">NHS patient feedback<\/a> to understanding <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/cass.lancs.ac.uk\/corpus-approaches-to-healthcare-communication\/representations-of-obesity-in-the-news\/\">representations of obesity<\/a> in the British press.<\/p>\n<p>One of the main benefits of corpus linguistics is that it helps us quickly analyse millions of words, allowing researchers to develop deeper insights compared to manual inspection.<\/p>\n<p>Since our corpus covers a specific period, users can chart how language use changed during the pandemic, how particular words have acquired new meanings, or when certain words stop being used altogether \u2013 all without requiring specialist knowledge or language analysis skills. Pulling these different strands together, we can build a detailed timeline of how conversations about COVID-19 have changed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\">\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"A figure showing words related to lockdown\" width=\"600\" height=\"193\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=193&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=193&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=193&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=242&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=242&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=242&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"A figure showing words related to lockdown\" width=\"600\" height=\"193\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=193&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=193&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=193&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=242&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=242&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/407036\/original\/file-20210617-17-ysovdg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=242&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fsocialmedia%2F2021%2F06%2F20%2F84-million-tweets-pandemic-results-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Our archive reveals words associated with key terms like \u2018lockdown\u2019. TRAC:COVID\" data-title=\"Share Our archive reveals words associated with key terms like \u2018lockdown\u2019. TRAC:COVID on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Our archive reveals words associated with key terms like \u2018lockdown\u2019. TRAC:COVID on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>Our archive reveals words associated with key terms like \u2018lockdown\u2019. TRAC:COVID<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Reducing_vaccine_hesitancy\"><\/span>Reducing vaccine hesitancy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Our Twitter archive could also help us tackle ongoing issues related to the pandemic. Chief among them is vaccine hesitancy, which <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/misinformation-on-social-media-fuels-vaccine-hesitancy-a-global-study-shows-the-link-150652\">studies have shown<\/a> to be fuelled by misinformation shared on platforms such as Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>Using the TRAC:COVID archive, we\u2019ve investigated vaccine-related tweets to get an idea of the scale and diversity of \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6122668\/\">anti-vax<\/a>\u201d stances on Twitter. While the most frequent hashtags were <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly positive, such as #vaccineswork and #getvaccinated, we found several hashtags that spoke to different communities of anti-vaxxers.<\/p>\n<p>The diagram below illustrates how these anti-vax discourses intersect with conspiracy theories and bunk <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>, exposing how anti-vaxxers are part of a broader constellation of fringe beliefs.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\">\n<p><figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"A network graph showing tweets related to vaccine misinformation\" width=\"600\" height=\"379\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=477&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=477&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=477&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"A network graph showing tweets related to vaccine misinformation\" width=\"600\" height=\"379\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=477&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=477&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/404271\/original\/file-20210603-15-13arorp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=477&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fsocialmedia%2F2021%2F06%2F20%2F84-million-tweets-pandemic-results-syndication%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Using our archive, we can quickly identify anti-vaccine keywords. TRAC:COVID, Author provided\" data-title=\"Share Using our archive, we can quickly identify anti-vaccine keywords. TRAC:COVID, Author provided on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Using our archive, we can quickly identify anti-vaccine keywords. TRAC:COVID, Author provided on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>Using our archive, we can quickly identify anti-vaccine keywords. TRAC:COVID, Author provided<\/figcaption><\/figure><figcaption\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In extreme cases, these beliefs can cause widespread <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/stories-52731624?fbclid=IwAR08h6lPgGj7mZDqWzoQnDyaBEEJ_OdB2r5trTXEzOEIyplTfPdd1hZHehI\">medical harm<\/a>. For example, the UK has seen an increase in children contracting measles and mumps due to a growing number of parents choosing not to have their children vaccinated because of the fraudulent suggestion that the MMR vaccine <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/342\/bmj.c7452\">causes autism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Tweets about COVID-19 represent an important cultural artefact, charting how conversations and concerns about the pandemic have shifted over time. With our new resource, people will be able to explore a giant archive of pandemic perspectives, deepening their understanding of what preoccupied UK Twitter users during a unique period of world history.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/160675\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\"\/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/160675\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><em>This article by\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/robert-lawson-304171\">Robert Lawson<\/a>, Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/birmingham-city-university-920\">Birmingham City University<\/a> is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/we-archived-84-million-tweets-to-learn-about-the-pandemic-each-one-is-a-tiny-historical-document-160675\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/84-million-tweets-pandemic-results-syndication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#We collected 84 million pandemic-related tweets, here&#8217;s what we learned&#8221; The first tweet that the UK\u2019s Department of Health and Social Care published about its new coronavirus testing regime came on January 25 2020. Less than a week later, the department tweeted its first announcement of two positive tests for COVID-19 in the UK, foreshadowing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":279310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/06\/tweets-pandemic.jpg&signature=cabca1b1f9f0df988a2a2c742474550f","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}