Abstract

We examine an unexpected but significant source of positive public health messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic—K-pop fandoms. Leveraging more than 7 million tweets related to mask-wearing and K-pop between March 2020 and December 2021, we analyzed the online spread of the hashtag #WearAMask and vaccine-related tweets amid anti-mask sentiments and public health misinformation. Analyses reveal the South Korean boyband BTS as one of the most significant driver of health discourse. Tweets from health agencies and prominent figures that mentioned K-pop generate 111 times more online responses compared to tweets that did not. These tweets also elicited strong responses from South America, Southeast Asia, and interior States—areas often neglected by mainstream social media campaigns. Network and temporal analysis show increased use from right-leaning elites over time …

Date

September 1, 2023

Authors

Ho-Chun Herbert Chang, Becky Pham, Emilio Ferrara

Source

Online Social Networks and Media

Volume

37

Pages

100267

Publisher

Elsevier