Summary
How publics discuss the health crisis through online visuals and text
Presenter: Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University
Social media is now one of the primary places where people seek out information about the Zika virus. However, little is known about the content of these messages and about their public engagement. In addition, visual social media platforms like Instagram are under-studied in social media research. These visual platforms are particularly significant because of the different manner visuals are processed as compared to text-based messages. Therefore, the goal of this study is to determine how the public is talking about and responding to conversations about a current infectious disease outbreak, Zika, on visual social media platform Instagram.
OnAir Post: #Zika on Instagram