title: Twitter as a source of vaccination information: content drivers and what they are saying.
abstract: Twitter is a popular source of health information. This study reports a content analysis of posts about vaccinations, documenting sources, tone, and medical accuracy. Results can help explain patient knowledge and directions for educational campaigns. A set of 6,827 tweets indicates professional sources were shared most and treated positively. Two-thirds of shared medical content were substantiated. One-third of messages were positive, counter to other research and suggesting that users apply critical thinking when evaluating content.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1200, USA. lovebrad@austin.utexas.edu
authors.forename: Brad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Love
authors.forename: Itai
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Himelboim
authors.forename: Avery
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holton
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D057218:Blogging; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D061108:Social Media; D014611:Vaccination