Open AccessNetwork relationships of U.S. government health agencies in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Seungil Yum
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
information research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.397
H-Index - 49
ISSN - 1368-1613
DOI - 10.47989/irpaper883
Subject(s) - centrality , government (linguistics) , pandemic , health department , covid-19 , social network analysis , human services , public relations , social network (sociolinguistics) , social media , political science , business , public health , computer science , medicine , disease , world wide web , nursing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , philosophy , linguistics , mathematics , combinatorics , pathology , law
Introduction. Government institutes, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services, play important but different roles dealing with COVID-19 in the USA. Method. This study used NodeXL between June 7 and June 8 to visualise the social networks of the Centers and the Department by collecting 5,166 (the Centers) and 2,940 tweets (the Department). Analysis. Examined the characteristics of centrality of the two networks and used cluster analysis to identify communication groups. Results. Findings confirmed that the Centers demonstrate characteristics of people-based online networks, whereas the Department appears as an institutes-based online networks. Second, offline social networks play an essential role in online social networks. Third, the Centers had a greater impact on the networks in the Department network than the effect the Department had on the Centers. Fourth, some key players, such as the World Health Organization, play a pivotal role in both networks. Conclusions. Governments should explore the different types of health information of government institutes to effectively cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.