LIKE FOR AWARENESS , TWEET FOR RESPONSE
interesting is that when we compared our data to data from the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency , who we partner with , we received even more precise data on weekly flu cases reported through their lab testing . The correlation was 93 percent — even higher than the national level . That was a very encouraging finding .”
But utilizing social media data in this manner also presents challenges , such as correlating a social media post with a specific disease or condition .
“ A lot of people tweet that they have a fever or have the flu , but sometimes that information isn ’ t specific enough for us to connect it with a disease like whooping cough ,” Tsou said . “ That ’ s one of the limitations we are dealing with .”
“ There ’ s both a blessing and a curse to using social media in that it ’ s super rapid , but it also generates huge amounts of noise ,” Brownstein said . “ Dealing with all the noise and trying to pick out the signals that have meaning is definitely a challenge .”
A World of Possibilities for Public Health Some public health agencies are already beginning to rely on social media data to investigate health issues .
For example , last year the Chicago Department of Public Health began using Twitter to identify cases of foodborne outbreaks . The department teamed up with a group called Smart Chicago to develop an app that analyzes tweets that reference food poisoning , leading the city to step up inspections and enforcement on offending establishments .
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is taking a similar approach . It recently worked with Columbia University and Yelp on a pilot to prospectively identify restaurant reviews on Yelp that referred to foodborne illness .
“ These systems are operational , and they are being used by government entities to provide situational awareness ,” Brownstein said . “ They ’ re not necessarily the only sources of information , but they are an important source of information .”
But it may still be a while before public health departments officially adopt social media data as a significant element of their regular investigations .
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