@article{ref1,
title="How loneliness is talked about in social media during COVID-19 pandemic: text mining of 4,492 Twitter feeds",
journal="Journal of psychiatric research",
year="2020",
author="Koh, Jing Xuan and Liew, Tau Ming",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Loneliness is a public health problem that is expected to rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, given the widespread policy of quarantine. The literature is unclear whether loneliness during COVID-19 is similar to those of non-pandemic seasons. This study examined the expression of loneliness on Twitter during COVID-19 pandemic, and identified key areas of loneliness across diverse communities.   METHODS: Twitter was searched for feeds that were:(1) in English; (2) posted from May 1, 2020 to July 1, 2020; (3) posted by individual users (not organisations); and (4) contained the words 'loneliness' and 'COVID-19'. A machine-learning approach (Topic Modeling) identified key topics from the Twitter feeds; Hierarchical Modeling identified overarching themes. Variations in the prevalence of the themes were examined over time and across the number of followers of the Twitter users.   RESULTS: 4492 Twitter feeds were included and classified into 3 themes: (1) Community impact of loneliness during COVID-19; (2) Social distancing during COVID-19 and its effects on loneliness; and (3) Mental health effects of loneliness during COVID-19. The 3 themes demonstrated temporal variations. Particularly in Europe, Theme 1 showed a drastic reduction over time, with a corresponding rise in Theme 3. The themes also varied across number of followers. Highly influential users were more likely to talk about Theme 3 and less about Theme 2.   CONCLUSIONS: The findings reflect close-to-real-time public sentiments on loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrated the potential usefulness of social media to keep tabs on evolving mental health issues. It also provides inspiration for potential interventions to address novel problems-such as loneliness-during COVID-19 pandemic.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-3956",
doi="10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.11.015",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.11.015"
}