Telehealth adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic: A social media textual and network analysis

Objective The telemedicine industry has rapidly grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, and telemedicine has become a common form of care. The present study looks at the online conversation regarding telemedicine at the beginning of the pandemic and one year later. The Technology Acceptance Model is utilized to explain the findings. Methods Brandwatch and NUVI software captured social mentions on Twitter regarding telemedicine during the beginning of the pandemic (March 15, 2020-April 20, 2020) and one year later (March 12, 2021-April 19, 2021). SAS text-mining software analyzed the social mentions and organized them into ten unique topics for each time period. The research team analyzed the topics and organized them into themes. A network analysis was also performed to examine structure and influence within the network. Results In March-April 2020, the themes focused on the use of telehealth in general, telehealth for mental health applications, and Medicare covering telehealth services. In March-April 2021, the themes focused on news events regarding telehealth and the rise in prominence of telehealth services. The network analysis shows a shift in the distribution of telehealth information among influential accounts and reveals that the network became more connected, with a change in the control of information spread. Conclusions Technology Acceptance Model explains the social acceptance and spread of telemedicine. The transition in the conversation about telemedicine suggests a pattern of greater system use consistent with the Technology Acceptance Model. Telemedicine may have greatly increased in use because of the pandemic, but data suggests that its use may persist after the pandemic subsides.