COVID-19 South Africa (COVID19ZA) Consortium

Yolanda Nkalashe , Andani Madodonga

Partner: covid19za

Year: 2021

Abstract: During a pandemic health and government officials are not just dealing with the effects of the pandemic itself but are also dealing with an infodemic as stated by the world health organization. This has a detrimental effect on how effective health and government plans to combat the virus. It has become a necessity for government and health officials to have risk communication strategies especially for the social media society. To assist with this, we have embarked on a project that will create a baseline for communication strategies for officials when communicating on social media. We use a microblog data, twitter, to assist in determining how information spreads through social media. We answer four questions 1. cluster South African vs international microblogs and perception between the clusters 2. If influential user will make microblog trend 3. What makes a microblog trend 4. Rate of transmission of a microblog.

Presentation Video