What makes people talk about Ebola on social media? A retrospective analysis of Twitter use.

lease cite this article in press as: R nalysis of Twitter use, Travel Medic tp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.20 77-8939/a 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rig Social media tools such as Twitter have greatly increased the communication potential between networks of previously unconnected individuals. Within medicine, they are increasingly used as vehicles for the dissemination of opinions and views [1]. A recent study into the incidents of antibiotic-related “tweets”, for example, showed a significant increase over baseline of Twitter activity that persisted for 48 h after a significant antibiotic-related news event [2]. Using a similar method, we looked at social media activity relating to the most important travel-related infection of the moment, Ebola Virus, which poses a risk to individuals who have recently visited outbreak areas in Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia. The epidemiological situation is reflected on the activity of social media networks