Dissemination of health messages in online social network: A study of healthcare providers’ content generation and dissemination on Twitter

Abstract

This study offers a nuanced understanding of health information dissemination based on the Intellectual Epidemic model within online social networks. We highlight the importance of healthcare providers’ subnetworks and the strategic application of fear and hope in health messages. Factors like interest-based communities and their distinct reactions to different types of information play critical roles. We discovered information within online communities tends to remain trapped, illustrating a drawback of homophily. Our insights not only illuminate the distinctive properties of online information dissemination but also furnish valuable implications for health communication strategies in a digitally networked era.