To share or not to share? A content analysis of tweets about COVID-19 vaccine passports using a privacy framework

• In Event: IMET, Law & Policy, Multicultural Studies & Research Divisions - Research Presentation (Virtual)
  In Paper Competition: Interactive Media & Emerging Technologies Division - Research Presentations (Virtual Part II)

Abstract

A content analysis of 1,000 tweets about COVID-19 vaccine passports was undertaken for presence of politics, presence of privacy concerns, and sentiment of the tweets. Salesforce Social Studio, a social media listening tool, was used to create a topic profile with the keyword “COVID-19 vaccine passport.” Approximately 112,000 tweets were yielded in the search between August 23, 2021 and September 23, 2021, with a total of 1,000 tweets analyzed in this study. August 23, 2021 marks the day the COVID-19 vaccine received full approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The results showed that most of the tweets were sent by individual citizens, followed by news organizations. The majority of the tweets didn’t mention privacy, though more than half of the tweets referenced politics. Furthermore, most the tweets had either negative or neutral sentiment. In terms of privacy disclosures, usernames and the content of the tweets tended not to include names, professions, hobbies, or locations, though most tweets referenced personal political beliefs. Implications of the findings and suggestion for future research were discussed.

Author

• Amanda D. Damiano, Marist College