Framing of and Attention to COVID-19 on Twitter: Thematic Analysis of Hashtags

Abstract

This study contributes to framing theory and research by demonstrating how trending hashtags can be used as new user-generated data to identify frames on social media. This study concludes that the identified frames such as "quarantine life" and "conflict" and themes such as "isolation" and "toilet paper panic" represent the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences could be (1) exclusively related to COVID-19, such as hand hygiene or isolation; (2) related to any health crisis such as social support of vulnerable groups; and (3) generic that are irrespective of COVID-19, such as homeschooling or remote working.