Harvesting CDC & WHO COVID-19 Posts from Instagram

The goal of this project is to use evidence-based risk communication principles to examine the social media messaging strategies employed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) during the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.

Specifically, we will perform a quantitative content analysis of Instagram feeds and stories to describe how official communication, message framing strategies (e.g., attributions of responsibility, cultural values), efforts to counter misinformation, and attempts to cultivate (using audio, video, and text) public perceptions of threat and efficacy have evolved over the course of this pandemic.

The research assistant (RA) will help our team harvest posts made during the COVID-19 pandemic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization’s Instagram accounts. The primary responsibility will be to program Instaloader (https://instaloader.github.io/) with Python for downloading and organizing data from Instagram.

The text and image-based messages disseminated by both organizations through Instagram will then be imported into NVivo Qualitative Data Analysis Software for thematic coding.

Familiarity with Python/computer programming (e.g., harvesting social media content) is essential. Knowledge of NVIVO helpful, but not required.