Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Aug 9, 2021
Date Accepted: Dec 30, 2021
Asperger gaining momentum on social media
ABSTRACT
Background:
Elon Musk, known for being one of the top business visionaries, recently took centre stage announcing he has Asperger at a highly popular TV-show. Research has shown that the combination of key figures in society and their diagnosis disclosures affect peoples' perception of the condition. Musk’s disclosure is expected to spur the online debate about the disability, which might contribute to spreading knowledge and perhaps changing the perception of the condition.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to compare the type of content provided, the engagement and sentiment of popular tweets related to Asperger that were posted before and after Musk’ disclosure.
Methods:
We extracted all popular tweets (>30 likes) that included the terms “Asperger” or “Aspie”, and were published between one week before and one after Musk´ disclosing his Asperger condition. Each post was classified by two independent coders into providing correct information, including, or being neutral. We analyzed engagement with these posts; and the sentiment with the AFINN sentiment analysis tool.
Results:
We extracted a total of 227 popular tweets (n=34 posted the week before the Musk-announcement; and n=193 the week after). We classified 210 of the tweets (92.5%) as being neutral; thirteen tweets (5.7%) as informative; and four (1.8%) containing misinformation. Both informative tweets, and tweets containing misinformation were all posted after Musk’ disclosure. Popular tweets posted before the disclosure were significantly more engaging (receive more comments, shares and faves) than the ones posted after the announcement. We did not find differences regarding the sentiment on tweets posted before and after the announcement.
Conclusions:
Social media could be considered by mental health authorities, autism associations and other stakeholders as valuable platforms where to spread information and raise knowledge about ASD. Especially when key figures disclose their ASD condition, as posts about the disability increase, and the information could potentially reach more people.
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