Social Network Analysis for Coronavirus (COVID‐19) in the United States

Yum, Seungil

OBJECTIVES: This study explores how public key players play an important role in social networks for coronavirus (COVID‐19). METHODS: This study employs social network analyses based on 2,864 Twitter users and 2,775 communications of Twitter. RESULTS: This study finds that President Trump plays the most important role in social networks among the top 20 key players for both in‐degree centrality and content in tweets. Second, Donald Trump and Barak Obama show the opposite result for the in‐degree centrality and follower analysis. The result shows that the topic‐based networks and the person‐based networks play a different role in social networks. This study demonstrates that the presidents, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its regional offices, the Centers for Disease Control, and news channels play a crucial role in the news of COVID‐19 for people. Key players, such as Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and BBC, are located in the central networks. In contrast, U.S. news channels and WHO and its regional offices have independent channels. CONCLUSIONS: Governments should understand the characteristics of public key players to provide information for COVID‐19 in a timely manner.