Addicted to Twitter, you tell your life and all the details pass there, even when you are sick? Do not feel guilty, your testimony is a contribution to the well-being of society. Social networks are mainly used to communicate, of course, but the information circulating there could prove to be more useful than expected. According to the British food authority, the Food Standard Agency (FSA), Twitter could even be used to spot epidemic peaks in gastroenteritis, reveals Le Figaro. The agency’s social media manager, James Baker, and his team analyzed the keywords used on the microblogging network during the last seasonal outbreak of gastroenteritis.
Result: in the period when the disease was in full swing, hashtags such as “winter virus” or “vomiting” were in vogue on the network. On the other hand, observe the experts, the words a little more explicit like the English versions of “gueuler” or “gerber” were in full swing even before the health alert was launched, up to four weeks before.
James Baker believes that he is aware of the tendency for Internet users to exaggerate and dramatize symptoms and for this reason, sorting out the relevant keywords is necessary, as is the definition of a precise alert threshold. The analysis of trends on the Twitter network nevertheless remains a relatively effective method for predicting new epidemics of gastroenteritis, he explains on the FSA blogand why not other diseases.
