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Twitter’s Information Retrieval and Medical Professionals

http://www.healio.com/infectious-disease/practice-management/news/blogs/%7Be3cb1c26-ca1b-40c8-aeef-13e49b3dccf2%7D/peter-chin-hong-md-mas/tweets-in-the-time-of-zika-or-ebola-or-cholera

Although Twitter is most commonly thought of as one of the largest, most popular social networks, in many ways it has evolved to become an information network as well. The article linked above expands on the role that Twitter played during the Zika virus outbreak and the social media website’s growing importance to medical professionals. On Twitter, users can code their messages with hashtags, which are labels that associate their content with other similar content. For example, during the Zika outbreak, people who tweeted about the outbreak would add a #zika, which then allowed anyone seeking information on the subject to quickly and easily pull up all tweets related to the topic by searching for the hashtag. Moreover, when one hashtag becomes popular (indicated by many people tagging the same thing), the hashtag “trends” and is brought to greater attention. Medical professionals recently began recognizing the legitimacy of Twitter as a source of medical information and updates. As one doctor described, the immediacy of data and live updates from worldwide experts on the front line of many of these diseases is both unique and extremely valuable. Many experts and academic journals, figures of good authority, also post crucial information on Twitter.

This is a demonstration of the concept of information retrieval that we have been discussing in class, where people specifically focus on short search terms in a general information search. Traditional information retrieval systems are no longer as effective, even with the powerful capabilities of search engines. It takes so long for things, whether it be print or online articles, science journals, or research papers, to get published that often by the time the information is available to the public, it is no longer relevant. This is particularly true when dealing with outbreaks like Zika virus or Ebola, which is why, interestingly, many are turning to Twitter as a quasi search engine. What was once merely a social media outlet now doubles as a rather legitimate information retrieval system.

On the other hand, although Twitter’s information retrieval system lends the website to an immediacy of data and there are benefits to the rapid speed of information dissemination, there are still downsides. For example, such instant reporting can result in faulty information or reports that are overblown, which can cause undue panic and ignorance. It is important for users to understand the full capabilities and limitations of information systems to most efficiently utilize their resources.

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