Planning and implementing social media communication in a public health crisis: an analytical perspective

Issue Addressed: The use of social media as a public communication tool by public health service organisations (PHSOs) gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as the pandemic evolved into a prolonged public health crisis, PHSOs faced challenges in effectively engaging the public with crisis directives. Despite its growing importance, there is scant research on how PHSOs formulated and implemented their social media communication plans as part of their pandemic management. Methods: Textual analysis and quality appraisal of the first COVID-19 pandemic management plans and the post-COVID reports of Australia's foremost federal and jurisdictional PHSOs were undertaken. The Prevention–Preparedness–Response–Recovery framework for emergency management informed the analyses. Results: Sixteen documents were identified as relevant for inclusion in the review. Textual analysis revealed that Australia's PHSOs initially exhibited inertia in recognising social media as a strategic tool for public communication, as the documents were primarily focused on the response phase of the pandemic. The documents contained insufficient evidence of goals and metrics that could have informed how social media was used for public engagement. Jurisdictions varied in their perception of pandemic risks and in their use of social media to communicate public health directives. Conclusion: The content of the PHSOs' strategic pandemic management plans for COVID-19 played a major role in how social media communication of public health directives was implemented. So What?: This study offers actionable insights on public health communication for pandemic management to practitioners, highlighting aspects of social media communication plans to support timely implementation.