Understanding Citizens’ Tweets During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: A Thematic Analysis Study

Maha Alayyash, Raghad Naif Althobaiti
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Abstract

The coronavirus began in December 2019; in Wuhan, China, later the virus spread rapidly within a relatively short period of time, causing a global pandemic. Therefore, the Saudi government responded to the threat of COVID-19 from the start by imposing a lockdown to curb the number of affected patients and to prevent the fast-spreading virus, such as turning to distance learning, banning travel, imposing curfews, and postponing social activities.  As social activities and social communication were affected by the crisis, people in Saudi Arabia tend to increasingly use social media platforms, one of which is Twitter. Little is known about the Saudis’ reactions on Twitter during COVID-19 and after. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate how Saudi Twitter users express their feelings qualitatively during and after COVID-19 outbreaks. For the scope of this study, Arabic tweets related to COVID-19 expressed by Saudi citizens were collected from Twitter using the web scraping service Apify. The data covered the periods of COVID-19 from the 1st of January 2020 to the 7th of July 2022. The selection of these tweets was primarily based on trending hashtags and keywords populated from Saudi Arabia. A total of 11,900 Arabic tweets were obtained, and only 473 tweets were considered in this study. A qualitative thematic analysis of Saudis’ tweets resulted in the identification of five main themes: 1) negative attitudes (i.e., fear, frustration, and sadness, 309, 65%); 2) positive attitudes (56, 12%); 3) advise-giving (48, 10%); 4) humour (34, 7%); and 5) information-seeking (26, 5%). These findings suggest that Saudi governmental agencies should actively engage in two-way communication with the public, provide trustworthy information, and manage the crisis based on the public’s needs. Our present research has shown that Twitter is a valuable source of reality, reflecting unique experiences among its users. Thematic analysis has proven to be a useful approach in providing insightful information about the Saudis’ needs in times of crisis and after. In addition, governments and health authorities can have a better understanding of the public's needs and thus prepare their crisis management strategies in order to relieve the public’s psychological pressures.
了解沙特阿拉伯COVID-19大流行期间和之后的公民推文:一项专题分析研究
冠状病毒始于2019年12月;后来在中国武汉,病毒在相对较短的时间内迅速传播,导致全球大流行。因此,沙特政府从一开始就采取了远程教育、禁止旅行、实行宵禁、推迟社交活动等封锁措施,以遏制患者数量,防止病毒快速传播。由于社会活动和社会沟通受到危机的影响,沙特阿拉伯人越来越多地使用社交媒体平台,其中之一就是Twitter。在新冠疫情期间和之后,沙特人在推特上的反应鲜为人知。因此,本研究旨在调查沙特Twitter用户在COVID-19爆发期间和之后如何定性地表达他们的感受。在本研究的范围内,使用网络抓取服务Apify从推特上收集沙特公民表达的与COVID-19相关的阿拉伯语推文。这些数据涵盖了从2020年1月1日至2022年7月7日的COVID-19期间。这些推文的选择主要是基于来自沙特阿拉伯的热门话题标签和关键词。总共获得了11900条阿拉伯语推文,本研究只考虑了473条推文。对沙特人的推文进行定性主题分析,得出五个主要主题:1)消极态度(即恐惧、沮丧和悲伤,309.65%);2)积极态度(56.12%);3)提供建议(48.10%);4)幽默(34.7%);5)寻求信息(26.5%)。这些发现表明,沙特政府机构应积极参与与公众的双向沟通,提供值得信赖的信息,并根据公众的需求管理危机。我们目前的研究表明,Twitter是一个有价值的现实来源,反映了其用户的独特体验。专题分析已被证明是一种有用的方法,可以提供有关沙特在危机时期和危机后需求的深刻信息。此外,政府和卫生当局可以更好地了解公众的需求,从而制定危机管理战略,以减轻公众的心理压力。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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