title: The 2013 US Government Shutdown (#Shutdown) and health: an emerging role for social media.
abstract: In October 2013, multiple United States (US) federal health departments and agencies posted on Twitter, "We're sorry, but we will not be tweeting or responding to @replies during the shutdown. We'll be back as soon as possible!" These "last tweets" and the millions of responses they generated revealed social media's role as a forum for sharing and discussing information rapidly. Social media are now among the few dominant communication channels used today. We used social media to characterize the public discourse and sentiment about the shutdown. The 2013 shutdown represented an opportunity to explore the role social media might play in events that could affect health.
authors.affiliation: Raina M. Merchant, Yoonhee P. Ha, and Charlene A. Wong are with the Penn Medicine Social Media and Health Innovation Lab, Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. H. Andrew Schwartz, Lyle H. Ungar, and Maarten Sap are with the Department of Computer and Information Science, Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania. David A. Asch is with the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Philadelphia Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Raina M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Merchant
authors.forename: Yoonhee P
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Charlene A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: H Andrew
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sap
authors.forename: Lyle H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Ungar
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Asch
mesh_terms: D035082:Federal Government; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D020407:Internet; D011635:Public Health Administration; D061108:Social Media; D014481:United States