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Integrating geographic information systems (GIS) and social media analytics can be an effective approach to monitor disease outbreaks (such as flu, COVID-19, and hepatitis A) with near real-time updates and actionable intervention methods. Social media platforms can be used to investigate the public’s view and risk perceptions as they co-evolve with an outbreak, offering public health professionals an opportunity to tailor more effective responses or interventions to outbreaks. Using geo-tagged or geo-targeted social media data, GIS researchers can analyze human mobility and compare different local opinions from various cities and regions. This chapter provides basic knowledge about social media analytics with geospatial analysis approaches and GIS tools. Three examples (flu, COVID-19, and hepatitis A) are highlighted with data visualization and spatiotemporal analysis. The example of the COVID-19 outbreak in San Diego also addresses the key health communication issues (vaccination, masking, and social distancing) using geo-targeted social media datasets. Student skill levels will be the “beginner” in GIS or public health.
KEY THEMES/KEYWORDS
Social media analytics; disease outbreaks; public health; COVID-19; health communication
SPATIAL LITERACY SKILLS IN THIS CHAPTER
Geo-tagged social media data; geo-targeted social media data; Pearson correlation; locational privacy