Social Media #Memes and Early Public #Opinion #Formation Regarding Highly Pathogenic Avian #Influenza (HPAI) as a Public Health #Threat in the #USA
{Summary} Misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories gain traction in times of uncertainty when little is known about a disease and when trust in government and public institutions is low . Amidst uncertainty, public health-related memes act as a sort of coping mechanism. Memes images, text, or video that serve as a shorthand form of communication—have the potential to spread quickly and widely on social media. While memes can be humorous, perhaps harmless, they can have serious effects at other times, as during the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing they have in common, however, is their transportability from user to user and platform to platform. Frame analysis of Internet memes is useful for categorizing what we call frames of meaning in digital space. Unlike the agenda-setting function of mass media, in which gatekeepers (e.g., news editors) set the agenda regarding public issues, framing theory in the digital age is more dynamic, as content may take on different ...