Harnessing social media in the modelling of pandemics -- challenges and opportunities (Q829030)

This paper discusses the challenges as well as opportunities inherent in the use of social media data in modelling pandemics and infectious diseases. The authors first discussed behavioral insights obtained from social media data in modelling SIR epidemics. Data from social media indicative of trends in some behaviors or intentions should be used in models with care. It is essential to incorporate social media data and its characteristic features into models in some suitable ways affecting the model parameters. The effect of social media-based surveillance in early detection and monitoring has been commented. Finally, the authors discussed the good and bad aspects of the use of social media and internet-based data in epidemic modelling.