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Mapping the anti-vaccination movement on Facebook.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Mapping the anti-vaccination movement on Facebook.
Authors: Smith, Naomi1 n.smith@federation.edu.au, Graham, Tim2
Source: Information, Communication & Society. Aug2019, Vol. 22 Issue 9, p1310-1327. 18p.
Subjects: Anti-vaccination movement, Social network analysis, Online social networks, Discourse analysis, Social media, Social institutions
Abstract: Over the past decade, anti-vaccination rhetoric has become part of the mainstream discourse regarding the public health practice of childhood vaccination. These utilise social media to foster online spaces that strengthen and popularise anti-vaccination discourses. In this paper, we examine the characteristics of and the discourses present within six popular anti-vaccination Facebook pages. We examine these large-scale datasets using a range of methods, including social network analysis, gender prediction using historical census data, and generative statistical models for topic analysis (Latent Dirichlet allocation). We find that present-day discourses centre around moral outrage and structural oppression by institutional government and the media, suggesting a strong logic of 'conspiracy-style' beliefs and thinking. Furthermore, antivaccination pages on Facebook reflect a highly 'feminised' movement -- the vast majority of participants are women. Although anti-vaccination networks on Facebook are large and global in scope, the comment activity sub-networks appear to be 'small world'. This suggests that social media may have a role in spreading anti-vaccination ideas and making the movement durable on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Engineering Source
Description
Abstract:Over the past decade, anti-vaccination rhetoric has become part of the mainstream discourse regarding the public health practice of childhood vaccination. These utilise social media to foster online spaces that strengthen and popularise anti-vaccination discourses. In this paper, we examine the characteristics of and the discourses present within six popular anti-vaccination Facebook pages. We examine these large-scale datasets using a range of methods, including social network analysis, gender prediction using historical census data, and generative statistical models for topic analysis (Latent Dirichlet allocation). We find that present-day discourses centre around moral outrage and structural oppression by institutional government and the media, suggesting a strong logic of 'conspiracy-style' beliefs and thinking. Furthermore, antivaccination pages on Facebook reflect a highly 'feminised' movement -- the vast majority of participants are women. Although anti-vaccination networks on Facebook are large and global in scope, the comment activity sub-networks appear to be 'small world'. This suggests that social media may have a role in spreading anti-vaccination ideas and making the movement durable on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:1369118X
DOI:10.1080/1369118X.2017.1418406