TY  - JOUR
AU  - Odlum, Michelle
AU  - Yoon, Sunmoo
AU  - Broadwell, Peter
AU  - Brewer, Russell
AU  - Kuang, Da
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/11/22
TI  - How Twitter Can Support the HIV/AIDS Response to Achieve the 2030 Eradication Goal: In-Depth Thematic Analysis of World AIDS Day Tweets
JO  - JMIR Public Health Surveill
SP  - e10262
VL  - 4
IS  - 4
KW  - community
KW  - human rights
KW  - social network
KW  - infodemiology
KW  - infoveillence
KW  - Twitter
AB  - Background: HIV/AIDS is a tremendous public health crisis, with a call for its eradication by 2030. A human rights response through civil society engagement is critical to support and sustain HIV eradication efforts. However, ongoing civil engagement is a challenge. Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate the use of Twitter data to assess public sentiment in support of civil society engagement. Methods: Tweets were collected during World AIDS Days 2014 and 2015. A total of 39,940 unique tweets (>10 billion users) in 2014 and 78,215 unique tweets (>33 billion users) in 2015 were analyzed. Response frequencies were aggregated using natural language processing. Hierarchical rank-2 nonnegative matrix factorization algorithm generated a hierarchy of tweets into binary trees. Tweet hierarchy clusters were thematically organized by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS core action principles and categorized under HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment or Care, or Support. Results: Topics tweeted 35 times or more were visualized. Results show a decrease in 2015 in the frequency of tweets associated with the fight to end HIV/AIDS, the recognition of women, and to achieve an AIDS-free generation. Moreover, an increase in tweets was associated with an integrative approach to the HIV/AIDS response. Hierarchical thematic differences in 2015 included no prevention discussion and the recognition of the pandemic’s impact and discrimination. In addition, a decrease was observed in motivation to fast track the pandemic’s end and combat HIV/AIDS. Conclusions: The human rights–based response to HIV/AIDS eradication is critical. Findings demonstrate the usefulness of Twitter as a low-cost method to assess public sentiment for enhanced knowledge, increased hope, and revitalized expectations for HIV/AIDS eradication. 
SN  - 2369-2960
UR  - http://publichealth.jmir.org/2018/4/e10262/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/10262
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30467102
DO  - 10.2196/10262
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/10262
ER  -