Viralization keys of messages in unofficial accounts during crisis periods: the case of Covid-19 on TwitterClaves de viralización de mensajes en cuentas no oficiales durante periodos de crisis. El caso de covid 19 en Twitterå±æœºæ—¶æœŸéžå®˜æ–¹è´¦å·ä¿¡æ¯æˆåŠŸä¼ æ’­çš„å…³é”®: ä»¥æ–°å† ç—…æ¯’ä¿¡æ¯åœ¨æŽ¨ç‰¹ä¸Šçš„ä¼ æ’­ä¸ºä¾‹

Cerdá-Mansilla, Elena Rubio Natalia Campo Sara

PurposeThis study aims to analyze a backchannel account on news of the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic, with information not disseminated in official media due to the social alarm it might cause and the negative image of government management. Specifically, it examines acceptance and dissemination of this type of content in a period of lack of information, while reflecting on what would constitute proper management of this type of channel.Design/methodology/approachFirst, based on a literature review, this study classifies possible explanatory variables of online content dissemination into content richness and psychological content. Second, this study performs sentiment analysis of the Twitter backchannel account @COVID_19NEWS and use Qualitative Comparative Analysis to find causal configurations of variables that obtained a high rate of retweets.FindingsThe results reveal predominance of one combination of three factors in backchannel information diffusion: emotional, identifying and video content. Other interesting combinations of factors were shown to be attractive enough to contribute to success of the tweets.Practical implicationsKnowledge of the main configurations that attract information dissemination in backchannel accounts is useful for public management of a health crisis such as the Covid-19 outbreak. Rather than suppressing these channels, the authors discuss different solutions.Originality/valueThis study advances scholarship on backchannel communications in emergency situations, providing insights to understand and manage such channels.