@Article{info:doi/10.2196/29127,
author="Cruickshank, Iain
and Ginossar, Tamar
and Sulskis, Jason
and Zheleva, Elena
and Berger-Wolf, Tanya",
title="Content and Dynamics of Websites Shared Over Vaccine-Related Tweets in COVID-19 Conversations: Computational Analysis",
journal="J Med Internet Res",
year="2021",
month="Dec",
day="3",
volume="23",
number="12",
pages="e29127",
keywords="COVID-19; agenda setting; antivaccination; cross-platform; data mining of social media; misinformation; social media; Twitter; vaccinations; vaccine hesitancy",
abstract="Background: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent ``infodemic'' increased concerns about Twitter's role in advancing antivaccination messages, even before a vaccine became available to the public. New computational methods allow for analysis of cross-platform use by tracking links to websites shared over Twitter, which, in turn, can uncover some of the content and dynamics of information sources and agenda-setting processes. Such understanding can advance theory and efforts to reduce misinformation. Objective: Informed by agenda-setting theory, this study aimed to identify the content and temporal patterns of websites shared in vaccine-related tweets posted to COVID-19 conversations on Twitter between February and June 2020. Methods: We used triangulation of data analysis methods. Data mining consisted of the screening of around 5 million tweets posted to COVID-19 conversations to identify tweets that related to vaccination and including links to websites shared within these tweets. We further analyzed the content the 20 most-shared external websites using a mixed methods approach. Results: Of 841,896 vaccination-related tweets identified, 185,994 (22.1{\%}) contained links to specific websites. A wide range of websites were shared, with the 20 most-tweeted websites constituting 14.5{\%} (27,060/185,994) of the shared websites and typically being shared for only 2 to 3 days. Traditional media constituted the majority of these 20 websites, along with other social media and governmental sources. We identified markers of inauthentic propagation for some of these links. Conclusions: The topic of vaccination was prevalent in tweets about COVID-19 early in the pandemic. Sharing websites was a common communication strategy, and its ``bursty'' pattern and inauthentic propagation strategies pose challenges for health promotion efforts. Future studies should consider cross-platform use in dissemination of health information and in counteracting misinformation. ",
issn="1438-8871",
doi="10.2196/29127",
url="https://www.jmir.org/2021/12/e29127",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/29127",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34665760"
}