I know what you’re thinking; this is another article relating to the flu. “Isn’t the flu season almost over?” No, it’s actually just starting for most regions of the country. This is not about the disease, but more about how social media, particularly Twitter, is at work fighting off the flu outbreak.
Source: Jocelyn Hsu
So, remember that tweet you wrote back when you felt like you were dying, with your nose all stuffy or runny, and your head like a heavy pendulum ceaselessly swinging? Or that time you opened up your Twitter feed and you saw people tweeting about how miserable and sick they are because of the change in weather? Whether you’re the whiny person or the tough cookie that just grimaced at the whiners, it matters not. Those sick (pun intended) flu tweets are actually helping the world out these days. They provide valuable live-feed data that can be utilized to predict an outbreak and, ultimately, allow health administrators to address it in a timely fashion.
This October, a detailed research article was published in PLOS CURRENTS about how Twitter is an invaluable resource to improve forecasts of influenza. Using simple computer algorithms, computer analysts are able to look for keywords in tweets for flu related terms. With the data collected from Twitter, experts are then able to insert the numbers into equations and predict future flu outbreaks. These calculations that help with the prediction involves numerous amount of statistical data. Normally, influenza-like-illness data (ILI) are the only type of data provided to the CDC and are typically delayed and erroneous. The research article illustrates that Twitter’s data, along with ILI, lowers prediction errors by 17-30%. This, my friends, tells us to keep on tweeting and voice our frustration from time to time about our sickly conditions. So this holiday season, tweet away.
Featured Image Source: Jocelyn Hsu
