As you may know, the coronavirus has disrupted several countries’ health and general well-being around the globe. The coronavirus, a current flu-like disease pervasive throughout Europe, has generated significant Twitter content in the last 7 days.
Among Twitter’s highlights regarding this topic includes American politician and lawyer Robert Klain, who received the most retweets on his tweet discussing the lack of measures being taken to contain the spreading of the disease on a global scale.
When conducting research about the topic, our group found the following “word cloud,” showcasing the extent to which the coronavirus has impacted both cities around the world and students in various study abroad programs. For example, multiple Italy study abroad programs, including Syracuse Florence, have been halted in direct response to this ever-growing epidemic.
However, the demographic section of our research challenged our idea of the coronavirus being a global epidemic, as 65.3% of total Twitter content was being generated from the United States.
Despite this inconsistency, the following buzzgraph not only displayed the apparent interconnectedness of the epidemic as a whole, but also the complications in effectively suppressing the seemingly continuous cycle of the fatal sickness.
Without the power of social media, the world would not have the ability to effectively communicate about alarming events such as the coronavirus. As prospective social media influencers, this power should be of great importance to us as we progress in the communications industry.
-Maddie Smith, Chris Appello, Anonda Hoppner, Tess Greenberg
Great post guys! I completely agree. I think now more than ever, social media is being used as a news source and a main way to communicate in the midst of social distancing. Also, I believe that when your group was creating this post, the spread of the coronavirus was making its way into the United States and was affecting more Americans, which is probably why 65.3% of Twitter usage regarding the coronavirus was based in the US. Lastly, the word cloud and the buzz graph give great insight, as they show what has resulted from the coronavirus.