How Social Media Monitoring Can Help You Track the Impact of COVID-19
After the H1N1 crisis in 2009, it is COVID-19 that has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), as it has spread in more than 100 nations all over the world. So far, it has infected more than 1,000,000 people globally, which has been the primary reason for it to have achieved virality online.
The epidemic crisis has led the world towards a lockdown and has raised public concerns, to which social media has contributed on a massive scale. The impact of COVID-19 has become a popular topic on social media, with 24 million posts shared in the last two months.
Apart from this, recent data suggests that there are more than 19 million mentions on Twitter about coronavirus, that too in the US alone.
People are sharing information online, and they frequently ask questions about the coronavirus, which has sparked conversations on social media. Moreover, it has been an instrumental component for the authorities to track and control the spread of coronavirus. In the USA, officials had been discussing with top giants like Facebook and Google along with public health experts to track whether people are following social distancing or not.
Here are numerous ways social media monitoring can help you track how COVID-19 is impacting the world.
Monitoring the Conversation Trends and Online Spread of the Coronavirus on Social Media
Without a doubt, the life-threatening coronavirus is making stories on all leading online publications and websites. The mentions and conversations happening around the virus can be easily tracked using feature-rich social media monitoring tools.
The badly hit economy due to the Covid-19 outbreak has been the second most popular topic of social interaction that has sparked conversations.
In Italy, news has influenced the social media trends as it is one of the most infected nations, and owing to this; there were frequent updates regarding the spread of the virus. The posts on social networking sites, forums, and blogs have increased drastically. Interestingly, around 78% of the Italians were vocal about their views regarding the slowing economy on social media even before the virus hit their country.
Moreover, the government has taken an active role in educating the citizens of the country through social media. They took it as a medium to voice their opinions upon the spread of COVID-19. Advanced monitoring tools are being used to derive collective intelligence from broader conversations and to find ways to tackle this pandemic. The insights can be used by public health authorities and businesses to make informed choices and support the situation.
Monitoring the Views of Politicians, Media Professionals, and Government Officials Over Social Media
When it comes to influencing the trends and conversations on social media, politicians and media professionals also did their bit.
Monitoring politicians’ views over the pandemic on social media has helped the authorities to understand the emergency to intervene. Also, it has shaped the political will to fight against the outbreak on a big level. Media professionals like Vittorio Feltri and Selvaggia Lucarelli were more vocal about their opinions on social media than the health care professionals who are helping people to cope with this global pandemic.
Social media has helped to track what topic is dominating social media conversations. News agencies have posted numerous facts and figures that have helped government agencies to track the spread of coronavirus in different areas.
Moreover, news agencies are also taking steps to fight misinformation about the pandemic by verifying the facts published on their part. All this couldn’t have been possible without consistent tracking of social media.
Monitoring Puns and Sarcasm Over Social Media
Coronavirus has spread online more than it has affected people physically. You can see great content over social media sites about the spread of coronavirus.
The usage of different emojis in the posts has depicted the path of the disease. Some of the common emojis that people are using include the mask emoji, the thinking emoji, and the red circle emoji.
When you open your social media accounts, you will notice humorous content that has shown a different perspective on the prevailing situation. People have been posting memes and jokes on social media, which has given a different angle to the situation. It has also influenced trends.
When we monitor the trends on social media, there is a new twist which is unclear. Is the insensitivity towards the whole scenario, or is it the manifestation of stress? This has to be taken into consideration.
However, tracking the content with social media monitoring has helped to ascertain the intensity of emotions over the outbreak which will decide what action people will take in the future.
Live Dashboards to Chart the Impact of COVID-19
Mobile devices are being used effectively to chart the impact of coronavirus that has affected people severely. One such way is by using the Chinese Health Code Program, which one can access by using Alipay or WeChat.
Officials had been using the platforms to determine the quarantine status and the risk associated with the citizens. The app provides information regarding their status, whether they are allowed to leave home, if they can choose mass transit, or stay in isolation due to their condition. In this app, users are categorized based on their health status by green, yellow, or red.
Also, the Microsoft Bing team launched the COVID-19 tracker with maps to track the severity of cases and identify the number of people infected due to the virus.
Moreover, two researchers from the Monash University, Mark Andrejevic and Neil Selwyn, published a paper that mentioned the impact of smartphone devices and data tracking during this pandemic. They showed through their report that smartphones could also help to track data and control the situation in the hour of emergency.
Also, Israel passed an emergency law to use mobile data for tracing the COVID-19 cases in the country. This would help the government to track and identify people, who are required to be kept in isolation.
According to a report by the BBC, the law was passed and approved by the parliament. It is taken as a measure to control the prevailing situation in the country as the number of infected people is growing continuously.
Websites to List the Updated News on Coronavirus
Apart from the applications that officials were using, several sites are listing the updated news on the spread of COVID-19. They also published reports and maps of the infected areas.
Amid all the updates and chaos about the deadly virus, researchers from the University of Oxford, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Northeastern University have also come up with another virus tracking website that shows real-time updates.
There is another such website that is helping to track live cases. As COVID-19 is spreading rapidly all across the globe, the site has a real-time dashboard to track its widespread impact.
People are tracking the mentions of coronavirus and its effects through social media monitoring and shaping their perspective. Similarly, social media monitoring tools help you track the crucial insights and trends needed to shape the perspective of your audience.
Mentionlytics is a robust social media monitoring tool that’s ideal for data gathering, data analysis, and sentiment analysis. It provides mentions and other information that is impacting the trends on COVID-19.
Originally posted on Mentionlytics: https://www.mentionlytics.com/blog/track-the-impact-of-covid-19-social-media-monitoring/
