Can Twitter sentiment help us design better mass communication interventions for public health?A feasibility study focussing on skin cancer prevention

研究表明，社交网络影响健康和不健康行为的传播，社交媒体(SM)被证明可以传递情绪和情感，然而，很少有研究在设计上利用社交网络的力量来定制公共卫生“电子干预”。能否利用这种社交媒体来支持成功的公共卫生干预将取决于一系列尚未研究的实践和理论问题。拟议的研究将解决以下知识差距，以支持对社交媒体支持的干预措施的可行性评估，以促进皮肤癌的预防，包括：(I)SM是否构成在人群中提供此类干预的可接受手段？(Ii)人们是否愿意在Twitter等SM平台上分享个人问题(例如健康行为/态度)？(Iii)哪些类型的SM交流和健康问题将吸引目标人群的注意，例如使用某些类型的视觉图像是否可以接受/有效？(Iv)哪些行为改变理论可能看似是干预设计的基础。Twitter和Facebook是截然不同的SM平台，后者提供了更多的潜力来识别用户的特征和他们表达的友谊网络。我们将开发一项SM支持的大众传播活动，旨在改变成年人与减少有害的紫外线暴露有关的态度和行为。这将通过Twitter提供，同时我们将探索Facebook用于类似目的的潜力。这项可行性研究的结果将包括：(I)从“之前”和“之后”的人口调查中获得的与紫外线暴露和皮肤癌有关的报告态度和行为的变化；(Ii)干预前后推特的使用情况，推特消息的社交网络架构，对推文中表达的对皮肤癌预防SM运动的情绪的分析，以及情绪在社交网络中的传播模式。这项研究将帮助我们吸取教训，在未来的公共卫生活动中使用Twitter等社交媒体。

Research has shown that social networks affect the transmission of healthy and unhealthy behaviours and Social Media (SM) have been shown to transmit moods and feelings However, few studies have, by design, harnessed the power of social networks within bespoke public health "e-interventions".Whether such social media could be harnessed to support a successful public health intervention would depend on a range of practical and theoretical issues that have yet to be studied. The proposed study will address the following knowledge gaps to support the feasibility assessment of a Social Media-enabled intervention to promote "Care in the Sun", for the prevention of skin cancer, including: (i) would SM constitute an acceptable means for delivering such interventions in the population?; (ii) would people be willing to share across a SM platform like Twitter, personal issues (e.g. health behaviour/attitudes)?; (iii) what types of SM communication and health issues would attract the attention of the target population, e.g. would the use of certain types of visual images be acceptable/effective?; (iv) what behaviour change theories might plausibly underpin the intervention design. Twitter and Facebook are quite distinct SM platforms, the latter offering more potential to identify a user's characteristics and their expressed friendship networks. We will develop a SM-enabled mass communication campaign designed to change attitudes and behaviours of adults related to reducing harmful Ultra Violet light exposure. This will be delivered using Twitter and in tandem we will explore the potential of Facebook for similar purposes. The outcomes of this feasibility study will include: (i) changes in reported attitudes and behaviours related to UV exposure and skin cancer obtained from "before" and "after" population surveys; (ii) pre and post intervention usage of Twitter, social network architecture of Twitter messages, analyses of sentiments expressed within tweets towards the skin cancer prevention SM campaign and patterns of sentiment diffusion across the social network. The study will help us learn lessons for using social media like Twitter in future public health campaigns.