Different types of platforms can be leveraged to satisfy different information needs. The public's reliance on social media becomes more prominent during a health crisis as it aids them to cope with uncertainty caused by sudden outbreaks ( Gui, Kou, Pine, & Chen, 2017).

By overcoming barriers-geographical, temporal, and social-social media enables individuals to seek evidence-based information provided by health professionals ( Metzger & Flanagin, 2011 Song et al., 2016) as well as experience-based information and emotional support from peers sharing similar health concerns ( Park, Conway, & Chen, 2018 Song et al., 2016). Social media has become an important source of health information with its ability to facilitate the exchange of social support (i.e., informational and emotional) among individuals ( Fox & Duggan, 2013 White & Dorman, 2001). Theoretical and public health implications are then discussed. We also observed differences in emotional contexts across platforms. To computationally group and contrast thematic clusters across platforms, we employed modularity analysis using the Louvain algorithm to determine a semantic network structure based on themes. Thematic analysis using k-means clustering algorithm identified seven clusters in each platform.

We analyzed COVID-19 vaccine side effect-related discussions from Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube, each of which represents a different type of the platform, and found thematic and emotional differences across platforms. Based on the schema theory, this study suggests a ‘social media platform schema’ to indicate users' different expectations based on previous usages of platform and argues that a platform's distinct characteristics foster distinct platform schema and, in turn, distinct nature of information. However, given the different niches which platforms occupy in terms of information exchange, reliance on a single platform would provide an incomplete picture of public opinions. Social media discourse has become a key data source for understanding the public's perception of, and sentiments during a public health crisis.

Best free drawing software 2019 reddit