Typology of Tweets and User Engagement Generated by US Companies Involved in the Development of COVID-19 Vaccines

Date

2021-03-04

Authors

Khandelwal, Priyanka
Salazar, Leslie Ramos

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Abstract

COVID-19 has evoked an unprecedented public health crisis throughout the world. This study conducted a quantitative content analysis of (N=295) Twitter posts generated by four US companies engaged in discovering a vaccine for COVID-19 to understand how their Twitter feed balanced corporate branding, product branding (vaccine, medicines, etc.), and disseminated reliable scientific information relating to COVID-19, in the social media space. Results suggested that these companies were actively embedding technical information in their corporate and product branding in the context of COVID-19. It was also observed that tweets providing technical and scientific information about the progress made towards the development of COVID-19 vaccine garnered high levels of user engagement from target audience. Findings indicate growing importance of technical communication in corporate settings during public health crisis.

Description

Expected Findings: The pharmaceutical companies' tweets shared much scientific/technical information and disseminated Covid-19 related information. This study indicates growing importance of technical communication in corporate settings during public health crisis.

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