Applying Multiple Data Collection Tools to Quantify Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Communication on Twitter

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Communication
• Data Science

Background:

• Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection, and HPV vaccination is crucial for preventing associated cancers.
• Social media platforms like Twitter are increasingly important for health information dissemination, particularly for younger demographics and minority groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify HPV vaccine communication on Twitter.
• To develop an improved methodology for collecting and analyzing Twitter data.

Main Methods:

• Collected 193,379 English-language tweets related to HPV vaccination over one year.
• Utilized Twitter Search API and Twitter Firehose for data collection.
• Employed machine learning and manual coding to analyze tweet sentiment and content.

Main Results:

• Positive sentiment comprised 38.99% of tweets, while negative sentiment accounted for 25.31%.
• Tweets mentioning prevention or protection were predominantly positive or neutral.
• Nearly half of negative tweets discussed side effects, compared to a smaller proportion of positive or neutral tweets.

Conclusions:

• Social media analysis is vital for understanding public health trends and communication surrounding HPV vaccination.
• Insights from Twitter conversations can help health organizations engage effectively and enhance vaccine uptake.
• This interdisciplinary study integrates public health, health communication, and data science to advance social media research methodologies.