••• public health research
Scientists use flu-related tweets to complement survey data
Tweets from individuals who did – or didn’t – choose to receive flu vaccinations this past year are being analyzed to explore reasons behind these choices and how attitudes differ among groups. Scientists from George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Georgia have identified millions of tweets mentioning concerns about vaccines and geolocated the messages. The researchers will also utilize traditional survey methods to reach people who refused flu vaccines. “Survey data tend to draw from older, white, rural households, whereas younger, urban minorities are overrepresented on Twitter. These two techniques complement each other perfectly,” said Karen Hilyard, assistant professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia. So far, their results show that states with a higher number of residents who received the flu shot had a higher number of vaccine-positive messages on Twitter.
Mark Dredze, assistant research professor in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University, will develop new computer algorithms to support the team’s research. “We hope to gain insights into people’s reasoning about vaccines by automatically processing millions of Twitter messages,” Dredze said.
“People really do tweet about everything and conversations about vaccines are no exception,” said David Broniatowski, assistant professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the George Washington University, who will co-lead the study on vaccine refusal patterns. “Parents and patients freely share their fears and concerns about vaccines. While it typically takes years to collect meaningful information about why people refuse vaccines, using surveys and searching Twitter brings immediate results.”
The research will be used by health officials to plan better responses to the next outbreak.
••• automotive research
Social networks are driving car sales
The traditional automotive advertising model may be left behind as car buyers are turning to peer reviews and social media to learn about car brands and models, according to research from Crowdtap, a New York marketing firm. In a February 2015 poll of 500 community members who were looking to purchase a vehicle in the next year or had already bought a vehicle in the past year, Crowdtap found that 80 percent said they were more likely to turn to their social network for car-buying advice than to car salesmen and 68 percent said they had purchased a car they found on social media. Almost all of the respondents (95 percent) say that they would talk about car models they like on social media. The most influential car recommendations came from friends or family (36 percent), followed by online review sites (19 percent) and social media (16 percent). “Media-empowered consumers – who increasingly rely on the opinions of their peers to inform buying decisions – are flipping the automotive advertising model on its head,” said Matthew Scott, senior vice president of strategy and business development at Crowdtap. “Auto brands that are able to steer the power of peer endorsements and social sharing will find success in marketing’s people-powered future.”