COVID-19: Retransmission of official communications in an emerging pandemic

In this research, the authors  examine message features shown in prior disasters to increase or decrease message retransmission under imminent threat conditions to develop models of official risk communicators’ messages shared online from February 1, 2020-April 30, 2020. They develop a lexicon of keywords associated with risk communication about the pandemic response, then use automated coding to identify message content and message structural features. 

Findings show systematic changes in message strategies over time and identify key features that affect message passing, both positively and negatively. These results have the potential to aid in message design strategies as the pandemic continues, or in similar future events.