title: Detecting themes of public concern: a text mining analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Ebola live Twitter chat.
abstract: A diagnosis of Ebola on US soil triggered widespread panic. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a live Twitter chat to address public concerns. This study applied a textual analytics method to reveal insights from these tweets that can inform communication strategies. User-generated tweets were collected, sorted, and analyzed to reveal major themes. The public was concerned with symptoms and lifespan of the virus, disease transfer and contraction, safe travel, and protection of one's body.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; School of Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. Electronic address: lazard@utexas.edu.
authors.forename: Allison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lazard
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; Department of Communication Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scheinfeld
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
authors.forename: Jay M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bernhardt
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
authors.forename: Gary B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Wilcox
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX; School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suran
mesh_terms: D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D011639:Public Opinion; D014481:United States
keywords: Crisis communication; Internet; Social media; Tweet