JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an infodemic, an overabundance of online and offline information. In this context, accurate information as well as misinformation and disinformation about the links between nutrition and COVID-19 have circulated on Twitter since the onset of the pandemic.

Objective:

The purpose of this study is to compare tweets on nutrition in times of COVID-19 published by two groups, a pre-identified group of dietitians and the general users of Twitter, in terms of their themes, content accuracy, use of behavior change factors and user engagement, in order to contrast their publication behavior during the pandemic.

Methods:

Public English-language tweets published between December 31st, 2019, and December 31st, 2020, by 625 dietitians from Canada and the United States, and Twitter users were collected using hashtags and keywords related to nutrition and COVID-19. After filtration, tweets were coded against an original codebook of themes and the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), for identifying behavior change factors, and compared to reliable nutritional recommendations pertaining to COVID-19. The number of likes, replies, and retweets per tweet were also collected to determine user engagement.

Results:

In total, 2886 tweets (dietitians, n=1417; public, n=1469) were included in the analyses. Differences in frequency between groups were found in 11 themes out of 15. Grocery (n=271, 19.1%), as well as diets and dietary patterns (n=507, 34.1%) were the most frequently addressed themes by dietitians and the public, respectively. Differences in frequency between groups were found in 9 TDF domains out of 14. Skills was the most used domain by both groups although in significantly different proportions (dietitians: n=612, 21.2% vs public: n=529, 18.3%; P<.0001). A higher proportion of dietitians’ tweets were accurate compared to the public (n=532/575, 92.5% vs n=250/382, 65.5%; P<.0001). Results for user engagement were mitigated: while engagement by likes varied between groups according to themes, engagement by replies and retweets were similar across themes but varied according to groups.

Conclusions:

Differences in tweets between groups, notably ones related to content accuracy, themes, and engagement in the form of likes, shed light on potentially useful and relevant elements to include in timely social media interventions aiming at fighting the COVID-19-related or future infodemics.