A Framework for the Interaction of Active Audiences and Influencers on Twitter: The Case of Zika Virus

In this paper, we investigate communication among Twitter users in the context of the 2016 Zika crisis, to understand how influencers and audiences contribute to agenda setting in health crisis communication. We analyse the content of 146,953 Zika-related tweets posted between April and September 2016 and examine how discussion topics vary by network community and user involvement over time. We argue that audiences adopt a broad view of health crisis-related issues and advocate for long-term solutions drawn from theories of active audiences and agenda-setting. Based on our observations on the Zika crisis case, we propose a framework for the dynamics in health crisis communication, which suggests a shift of discourse from a short-term perspective on specific issues to a long-term perspective on broader issues. The research contributes to the KM literature by suggesting a new method for converting individual tacit knowledge to collective explicit knowledge. Applying the framework to the coronavirus pandemic conversations can offer significant insights into the crisis.