Michelle Odlum|Sunmoo Yoon
What can we learn about the Ebola outbreak from tweets?
Columbia University Irving Medical Center|Columbia University Irving Medical Center
twitter address challenges current ebola outbreak surveillance aims study demonstrate use twitter realtime method ebola outbreak surveillance monitor information spread capture early epidemic detection examine content public knowledge attitudeswe collected tweets mentioning ebola english early stage current ebola outbreak july 24august 1 2014 analysis observational study includes time series analysis geologic visualization observe information dissemination content analysis using natural language processing examine public knowledge attitudesa total 42236 tweets 16499 unique 25737 retweets mentioning ebola posted disseminated 9362267048 people 63 times higher initial number tweets started rise nigeria 37 days prior official announcement first probable ebola case topics discussed tweets include risk factors prevention education disease trends compassionbecause analysis unique twitter dataset captured early stage current ebola outbreak results provide insight intersection social media public health outbreak surveillance findings demonstrate usefulness twitter mining inform public health education