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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Wasim Ahmed
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Emerald Publishing Limited, 2021.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Purpose: Using data from Twitter, this study sought to assess the coping behaviour and reactions ofsocial media users in response to the initial days of the COVID-19 related lockdown in different parts ofthe world.Design: This study follows the quasi-inductive approach which allows the development of pre-categoriesfrom other theories before the sampling and coding processes begin, for use in those processes. Datawere extracted using relevant keywords from Twitter and a sample was drawn from the Twitter datasetto ensure the data is more manageable from a qualitative research standpoint and that meaningfulinterpretations can be drawn from the data analysis results. The data analysis is discussed in two parts(1) extraction and classification of data from Twitter using automated sentiment analysis; and (2)qualitative data analysis of a smaller Twitter data sample.Findings: This study found that during the lockdown the majority of users on Twitter shared positiveopinions towards it because of its potential to halt the spread of COVID-19 and prevent further deaths.Our results also found that people were keeping themselves engaged and entertained. We also foundseveral users who were expressing negative sentiments. Our results also found that several users onTwitter were fence-sitters and their opinions and emotions could swing either way depending on howthe pandemic progresses and what action is taken by governments around the world.Implications: We add to the body of literature that has examined Twitter discussions around H1N1 usingin-depth qualitative methods and conspiracy theories around COVID-19. In the long run, the governmentcan help citizens develop routines that help the community adapt to a new dangerous environment –this has very effectively been shown, for instance, in the context of wildfires in the context of disastermanagement. In the context of this research, the dominance of the positive themes within tweets ispromising for policymakers and governments around the world. However, sentiments may wish to bemonitored going forward as large-spikes in negative sentiment may highlight lockdown-fatigue.
Author(s): Mittal R, Ahmed W, Mittal A, Aggarwal I
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Information Discovery and Delivery
Year: 2021
Volume: 49
Issue: 3
Pages: 193-202
Print publication date: 22/09/2021
Online publication date: 15/05/2021
Acceptance date: 02/03/2021
Date deposited: 12/03/2021
ISSN (print): 2398-6247
ISSN (electronic): 2398-6255
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-08-2020-0102
DOI: 10.1108/IDD-08-2020-0102
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