Decoding HIV Discourse on Social Media: Large-Scale Analysis of 191,972 Tweets Using Machine Learning, Topic...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Digital Health Communication
• Social Media Analysis

Background:

• Social media platforms are crucial for HIV information dissemination due to stigma and healthcare access barriers.
• Existing research on HIV discourse on social media is limited in scope, scale, and timeliness, especially post-COVID-19 and Twitter's rebranding to X.
• Understanding the comprehensive HIV-related discourse on X is vital for effective public health strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify dominant themes in current HIV-related social media discourse on X.
• To compare theory-driven and data-driven thematic analysis approaches for HIV content.
• To examine the influence of emotional responses and temporal patterns on HIV content dissemination.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 191,972 tweets from June 2023 to August 2024 using an integrated framework.
• Utilized supervised machine learning for text classification and comparative topic modeling (theory-driven vs. data-driven LDA).
• Employed sentiment analysis (VADER, NRC Emotion Lexicon) and temporal trend analysis to assess engagement.

Main Results:

• Information and education content comprised the majority (63.02%) of HIV discourse, followed by opinions (12.43%) and personal experiences (10.25%).
• Data-driven topic modeling identified 8 distinct themes, with some overlap and unique findings compared to theory-driven categories.
• Official campaigns (e.g., World AIDS Day) showed delayed engagement, while community events (e.g., National HIV Testing Day) prompted immediate peer-to-peer interaction.

Conclusions:

• HIV discourse on X is dominated by informational content, with prevention emerging as a key focus.
• Effective HIV communication requires integrating medical information with community perspectives and strategic message timing.
• Findings offer guidance for digital outreach strategies to connect vulnerable populations with healthcare services in the post-pandemic era.