TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the Relationship Between Trust-Building Strategies and Public Engagement on Social Media During the COVID-19 Outbreak
AU - Ngai, Cindy Sing Bik
AU - Singh, Rita Gill
AU - Lu, Wenze
AU - Yao, Le
AU - Koon, Alex Chun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Communication is critical in a new health emergency because it motivates the public to take preventive actions. Prior research has shown that strategies including source credibility, information transparency and uncertainty reduction actions could enhance trust in health communication on social media. Yet research on how the government in China used these trust-building strategies to engage the public during the outbreak of COVID-19 is limited. Therefore, our exploratory study developed an integrated framework for conducting quantitative content analysis to examine how the most popular government-owned newspaper in China, People’s Daily, utilized a major social media platform, to engage the public. Our findings showed that accessibility to external links, provision of emotional support, and information on skills and resources were associated with increased public engagement with government COVID-19 posts. Insights gained can enable public health organizations and governments to focus on specific strategies to enhance public engagement.
AB - Communication is critical in a new health emergency because it motivates the public to take preventive actions. Prior research has shown that strategies including source credibility, information transparency and uncertainty reduction actions could enhance trust in health communication on social media. Yet research on how the government in China used these trust-building strategies to engage the public during the outbreak of COVID-19 is limited. Therefore, our exploratory study developed an integrated framework for conducting quantitative content analysis to examine how the most popular government-owned newspaper in China, People’s Daily, utilized a major social media platform, to engage the public. Our findings showed that accessibility to external links, provision of emotional support, and information on skills and resources were associated with increased public engagement with government COVID-19 posts. Insights gained can enable public health organizations and governments to focus on specific strategies to enhance public engagement.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129837400&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2022.2055261
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2022.2055261
M3 - Article
C2 - 35473490
AN - SCOPUS:85129837400
SN - 1041-0236
VL - 38
SP - 2141
EP - 2157
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
IS - 10
ER -