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Analysis of the Evolution of User Emotion and Opinion Leaders’ Information Dissemination Behavior in the Knowledge Q&A Community during COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Xu Xu

    (School of Economic Information Engineering, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)

  • Zhigang Li

    (School of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China)

  • Rui Wang

    (School of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China)

  • Li Zhao

    (School of Economic Information Engineering, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)

Abstract

Since its emergence in 2019, COVID-19 has quickly triggered widespread public discussion on social media. From 26 February 2020 to 26 September 2020, this study collected data on COVID-19-related posts in the knowledge Q&A community, identified 220 opinion leaders of this community, and used social network analysis and sentiment analysis to analyze the information exchange behavior and emotional evolution of the opinion leaders during COVID-19. The results show that the COVID-19 topic community could be divided into seven main categories. The information dissemination of opinion leader information dissemination network had low efficiency, multiple paths, and a high degree of control. In addition, the emotional evolution of users showed obvious phased characteristics. User emotion changed from initially strong negative to strong positive over the course of the pandemic and eventually tended to be objective and neutral as time passed and the event stabilized.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu Xu & Zhigang Li & Rui Wang & Li Zhao, 2021. "Analysis of the Evolution of User Emotion and Opinion Leaders’ Information Dissemination Behavior in the Knowledge Q&A Community during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:22:p:12252-:d:684974
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Heng Tang & Hanwei Xu & Xiaoping Rui & Xuebiao Heng & Ying Song, 2022. "The Identification and Analysis of the Centers of Geographical Public Opinions in Flood Disasters Based on Improved Naïve Bayes Network," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Xin Guo & Zhuolin Feng, 2024. "Identifying university opinion leaders during the global crisis: information communication on official websites," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.

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