Purpose

This study investigates the communication behavior of public health organizations on Twitter during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Brazil. It contributes to the understanding of the organizational framing of health communication by showcasing several instances of framing devices that borrow from (Brazilian) internet culture. The investigation of this case extends the knowledge by providing a rich description of the organizational framing of health communication to combat misinformation in a politically charged environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected a Twitter dataset of 77,527 tweets and analyzed a purposeful subsample of 536 tweets that contained information provided by Brazilian public health organizations about COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. The data analysis was carried out quantitatively and qualitatively by combining social media analytics techniques and frame analysis.

Findings

The analysis showed that Brazilian health organizations used several framing devices that have been identified by previous literature such as hashtags, links, emojis or images. However, the analysis also unearthed hitherto unknown visual framing devices for misinformation prevention and debunking that borrow from internet culture such as “infographics,” “pop culture references” and “internet-native symbolism.”

Research limitations/implications

First, the identification of framing devices relating to internet culture add to our understanding of the so far little addressed framing of misinformation combat messages. The case of Brazilian health organizations provides a novel perspective to knowledge by offering a notion of internet-native symbols (e.g. humor, memes) and popular culture references for misinformation combat, including misinformation prevention. Second, this study introduces a frontier of political contextualization to misinformation research that does not relate to the partisanship of the spreaders but that relates to the political dilemmas of public organizations with a commitment to provide accurate information to citizens.

Practical implications

The findings inform decision-makers and public health organizations about framing devices that are tailored to internet-native audiences and can guide strategies to carry out information campaigns in misinformation-laden social media environments.

Social implications

The findings of this case study expose the often-overlooked cultural peculiarities of framing information campaigns on social media. The report of this study from a country in the Global South helps to contrast several assumptions and strategies that are prevalent in (health) discourses in Western societies and scholarship.

Originality/value

This study uncovers unconventional and barely addressed framing devices of health organizations operating in Brazil, which provides a novel perspective to the body of research on misinformation. It contributes to existing knowledge about frame analysis and broadens the understanding of frame devices borrowing from internet culture. It is a call for a frontier in misinformation research that deals with internet culture as part of organizational strategies for successful misinformation combat.

中文翻译：

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利用互联网文化打击错误信息：巴西公共卫生组织及其 COVID-19 疫苗接种活动的案例

目的

本研究调查了巴西 COVID-19 疫苗接种活动期间公共卫生组织在 Twitter 上的沟通行为。它通过展示借鉴（巴西）互联网文化的框架设备的几个实例，有助于理解健康传播的组织框架。该案例的调查通过提供对健康传播组织框架的丰富描述来扩展知识，以打击充满政治色彩的环境中的错误信息。

设计/方法论/途径

作者收集了包含 77,527 条推文的 Twitter 数据集，并分析了 536 条推文的有目的子样本，其中包含巴西公共卫生组织提供的有关 COVID-19 疫苗接种活动的信息。结合社交媒体分析技术和框架分析，对数据进行定量和定性分析。

发现

分析显示，巴西卫生组织使用了先前文献中已确定的几种框架设备，例如标签、链接、表情符号或图像。然而，该分析还发现了迄今为止未知的视觉框架手段，用于预防和揭穿错误信息，这些手段借用了“信息图表”、“流行文化参考”和“互联网本土象征主义”等互联网文化。

研究局限性/影响

首先，与互联网文化相关的框架装置的识别增加了我们对迄今为止很少被解决的错误信息战斗信息框架的理解。巴西卫生组织的案例通过提供互联网原生符号（例如幽默、模因）的概念和流行文化参考来打击错误信息，包括防止错误信息，从而提供了一种新颖的知识视角。其次，本研究引入了错误信息研究的政治情境化前沿，该前沿与传播者的党派偏见无关，但与致力于向公民提供准确信息的公共组织的政治困境有关。

实际影响

研究结果为决策者和公共卫生组织提供了有关针对互联网受众量身定制的框架的信息，并可以指导在充满错误信息的社交媒体环境中开展信息宣传活动的策略。

社会影响

本案例研究的结果揭示了社交媒体上的信息宣传活动经常被忽视的文化特性。这项来自南半球国家的研究报告有助于对比西方社会和学术界（健康）讨论中普遍存在的几种假设和策略。

原创性/价值

这项研究揭示了在巴西运营的卫生组织的非常规且几乎没有解决的框架手段，这为错误信息的研究提供了一个新颖的视角。它有助于丰富关于框架分析的现有知识，并拓宽对借用互联网文化的框架设备的理解。它呼吁开辟错误信息研究的前沿，将互联网文化作为成功打击错误信息的组织战略的一部分。