Monitoring Different Social Media Platforms to Report Unplanned School Closures Due to Wildfires in California, October & December 2017

Document Type

Presentation

Presentation Date

10-30-2018

Abstract or Description

To aid emergency responses, CDC conducts online news searches to monitor reports of unplanned school closures (USC). We examined social media posts about USCs during unprecedented wildfires in California in 2017 to determine if such posts could improve the amount and quality of USC data captured. We manually searched for Facebook and Twitter accounts for public school districts in fire-affected counties, retrieving posts and tweets about USCs. We compared those data with CDC’s online systematic searches (OSS) of Google Alert, Google News and LexisNexus. School-related data were obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics. Among 4,622 public schools, OSS identified wildfire-related USCs for 722 (16%) schools. Additional wildfire-related USCs were identified for 166 (4%) schools among the remaining 3,900 (84%) schools via social media: 22 (0.5%) via Facebook only; 137 (3%) via Twitter only, and 7 (0.2%) via both. Among 4,622 public schools, 3,697 (80%) were in districts with Facebook accounts, of which 490 (13%) schools made Facebook announcements of wildfire-related USCs. Compared with city schools, suburban schools were 40% less likely to make Facebook announcements (adjusted relative risk, aRR=0.5995, 95% CI, 0.6067-0.8819), while schools in towns were 49% more likely to make Facebook announcements (Town: aRR= 1.4929, 95% CI, 1.0528-2.0340). There were 3,269 (71%) public schools in districts with Twitter accounts, of which 303 (9%) schools made wildfire-related USC announcements on Twitter. Non-city schools were less likely than city schools to make Twitter USC announcements (Suburb: aRR=0.8589, 95% CI, 0.8092-0.9067; Town: aRR=0.1244, 95% CI, 0.0826-0.1786; Rural: aRR=0.3718, 95% CI, 0.2960-0.4572). Data obtained via Facebook and Twitter complements the OSS method and enhances the current CDC USC database. Our pilot study sets an example for public health decision makers worldwide for the innovative use of new data sources to support emergency responses during natural disasters and public health emergencies.

Additional Information

Georgia Southern University faculty members, Jingjing Yin, Xiaolu Zhou, Isaac Fung co-presented Monitoring Different Social Media Platforms to Report Unplanned School Closures Due to Wildfires in California, October & December 2017 in the The American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, Annual Meeting, October 2018.

Sponsorship/Conference/Institution

The American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, Annual Meeting

Location

New Orleans, LA

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