To live or to stay alive? A thematic and sentiment analysis of public posts on social media during the 2022 Shanghai COVID-19 outbreak

Objective The use of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic has been researched extensively since the outbreak. Sina Weibo, as one of most commonly used social media platforms in China, played an important role in public expression for the duration of COVID-19. We investigated the themes that emerged from the posts and examined the sentiments associated with each theme.Methods For this study, we collected 72,084 Weibo posts related to the 2022 Shanghai public health event to present a thematic and sentiment analysis of posts by the public.Results The findings showed that the public was more inclined to express concerns about the impact of the outbreak and of outbreak containment measures on their personal lives on social media and exhibited negative attitudes and opinions rather than discussing the impact of COVID-19 on human life and health, suggesting that the impact of the outbreak on people's daily lives was greater than was the impact on their livelihoods and health risks.Conclusions This research highlights the importance of understanding the role of social media in times of crisis and the potential insights that can be gained from analyzing online public discourse. Our empirical findings provide insights for future public health communication strategies and crisis management plans in China in the information age.