Studying Military Community Health, Well-being, and Discourse through the Social Media Lens
Social media can provide a resource for characterizing communities and targeted populations through activities and content shared online. For instance, studying the armed forces’ use of social media may provide insights into their health and wellbeing. In this paper, we address three broad research questions: (1) How do military populations use social media? (2) What topics do military users discuss in social media? (3) Do military users talk about health and well-being differently than civilians? Military Twitter users were identified through keywords in the profile description of users who posted geotagged tweets at military installations. These military tweets were compared with the tweets from remaining population. Our analysis indicate that military users talk more about military related responsibilities and events, whereas non-military users talk more about school, work, and leisure activities. A significant difference in online content generated by both populations was identified, involving sentiment, health, language, and social media features.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1431410
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-119954; 400904120
- Resource Relation:
- Related Information: Public Health Intelligence and the Internet. Lecture Notes in Social Networks, 87-105
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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