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Coverage of the Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic on YouTube

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2015

Corey H. Basch ,
Charles E. Basch ,
Kelly V. Ruggles  and
Rodney Hammond
Corey H. Basch*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey
Charles E. Basch
Affiliation:
Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York
Kelly V. Ruggles
Affiliation:
Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York
Rodney Hammond
Affiliation:
Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Corey H. Basch, EdD, MPH, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, William Paterson University, Wing 143, Wayne, NJ 07470 (e-mail: baschc@wpunj.edu).
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Abstract

Objective

The recent Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in 2014–2015 has been the largest and longest lasting to date. Media coverage about the outbreak has been extensive, but there are large gaps in our understanding of the ways in which widely accessed social media sites are used during times of public health crisis. The purpose of this study was to analyze widely viewed videos about EVD on the YouTube video-sharing site.

Methods

We coded the source, content, and characteristics of the 100 most widely viewed videos about EVD on YouTube.

Results

The videos included in the sample were viewed more than 73 million times. The death toll in West Africa was mentioned in nearly one-third of the videos. Over one-third of the videos mentioned how EVD was generally transmitted. There was little mention of treatment and no mention of the need for US funding of disaster preparedness; coordination between local, state, and federal governments; or beds ready for containment. No significant differences in the number of views were identified between video sources with the exception of a significantly higher number of views for “consumer videos” compared with “commercial television videos.”

Conclusions

With 1 billion unique users a month, YouTube has potential for both enhancing education and spreading misinformation. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:531-535)

Keywords

Ebolacommunicationsocial mediaYouTube
Type
Brief Report
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 9 , Issue 5 , October 2015 , pp. 531 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2015 

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