Skip to main content

Social networking examined in tracking infectious disease outbreaks in China

weibo monitoring bird flu china chickens caged
Social networks in China, such as Weibo, could help track infectious diseases much faster than before. Domesticated poultry for consumption, such as chicken, is thought to be the cause of the deadly disease. moji1980/123rf
Social media and social networking have increasingly become important tools in the health industry in the United States, used in tracking everything from food poisoning to chlamydia. In China, however, social networks such as Weibo are being used to track potential outbreaks of disease — and they hold the potential to enable users to get a hold of infectious diseases like bird flu (also known as avian influenza), much faster than in the past.

According to Imelda Saad of China NewsAsia, researchers in Singapore began studying the connection between social media platforms and combating the spread of infectious disease during the bird flu outbreak in China that occurred in 2013. The research included data analytics for discovering patterns and comparing information from social networking sites such as Weibo with the World Health Organization, health authorities, and news websites.

Recommended Videos

Researchers found social media networks to be particularly helpful in providing timely and relevant information especially during times of crisis. In the example of bird flu, social media was integral in discovering and tracking first-hand reports — sometimes as quickly as one hour before any other informational sources, and almost always much faster than through traditional methods of the past.

The information not only helped to track down the instances of infectious disease faster but also provided information about the disease, such as the lifestyle history of sufferers and patient symptoms, both elements that have been a focus of many health-related studies around the world.

“There was actually a patient who is a vegetarian,” explained Dr. Yang Yinping of the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore, “That means this person shouldn’t eat chicken, but he still got infected. So this is important lifestyle information for epidemiologists and clinical professionals to take into account, because this basically means the human-to-human transmission started.”

In China, however, using social media as a tool for monitoring has faced complications, especially given the government’s past role in managing and overseeing platforms like Weibo. Also, according to the researchers, the wealth of information available online caused difficulty in sifting through and determining exactly which information was real and which was not, and required filtering techniques for verifying information. Because of the research, however, researchers have been able to gather information in real-time to track any potential disease outbreak that should occur.

Christina Majaski
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Christina has written for print and online publications since 2003. In her spare time, she wastes an exorbitant amount of…
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more
How to download Instagram photos for free
Instagram app running on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Instagram is amazing, and many of us use it as a record of our lives — uploading the best bits of our trips, adventures, and notable moments. But sometimes you can lose the original files of those moments, leaving the Instagram copy as the only available one . While you may be happy to leave it up there, it's a lot more convenient to have another version of it downloaded onto your phone or computer. While downloading directly from Instagram can be tricky, there are ways around it. Here are a few easy ways to download Instagram photos.

Read more