Impact of gist intervention on automated system interpretability and user decision making.

As they become more common, automated systems are also becoming increasingly opaque, challenging their users' abilities to explain and interpret their outputs. In this study, we test the predictions of fuzzy-trace theory-a leading theory of how people interpret quantitative information-on user decision making after interacting with an online decision aid. We recruited a sample of 205 online crowdworkers and asked them to use a system that was designed to detect URLs that were part of coordinated misinformation campaigns.

User Experiences With a Moderated Facebook Group to Promote Vaccination.

Purpose: To examine user experiences in a moderated Facebook group intervention aimed at Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine promotion.

Design: Facebook group members were given 2-3 vaccination posts/day for 28 days (four weeks). Posts were aimed at educating about COVID-19 vaccination, soliciting concerns around COVID-19 vaccination, and engaging members.

The role of mental representation in sharing misinformation online.

Fuzzy-trace theory (FTT) posits that people share misinformation online if it promotes gist mental representations, cuing motivationally relevant values. Most people value the truth. Thus, per FTT, people decide to share messages that they perceive as true.

Correction: Twitter and Facebook posts about COVID-19 are less likely to spread misinformation compared to other health topics.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Twitter social mobility data reveal demographic variations in social distancing practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of social distancing practices to stem the spread of the virus. However, compliance with public health guidelines was mixed. Understanding what factors are associated with differences in compliance can improve public health messaging since messages could be targeted and tailored to different population segments.

Inductive detection of influence operations via graph learning.

Influence operations are large-scale efforts to manipulate public opinion. The rapid detection and disruption of these operations is critical for healthy public discourse. Emergent AI technologies may enable novel operations that evade detection and influence public discourse on social media with greater scale, reach, and specificity.

Trust in public health institutions moderates the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine discussion groups on Facebook.

Background: Distrust and partisan identity are theorized to undermine health communications. We examined the role of these factors on the efficacy of discussion groups intended to promote vaccine uptake.

Method: We analyzed survey data from unvaccinated Facebook users (N = 371) living in the US between January and April 2022.

Measuring the monetization strategies of websites with application to pro- and anti-vaccine communities.

Anti-vaccine content and other kinds of misinformation are hypothesized to be more heavily monetized than other kinds of online content. We test this hypothesis by applying several novel and scalable measures of website monetization strategies to more than 400,000 links shared by 261 anti-vaccine Facebook pages and 190 pro-vaccine ones. Contrary to expectations, websites promoted in pro-vaccine venues do more to monetize attention than those promoted in anti-vaccine venues.

The efficacy of Facebook's vaccine misinformation policies and architecture during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online misinformation promotes distrust in science, undermines public health, and may drive civil unrest. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, Facebook-the world's largest social media company-began to remove vaccine misinformation as a matter of policy. We evaluated the efficacy of these policies using a comparative interrupted time-series design.

Empathic Engagement With the COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitant in Private Facebook Groups: A Randomized Trial.

Background: Vaccine misinformation has been widely spread on social media, but attempts to combat it have not taken advantage of the attributes of social media platforms for health education.

Methods: The objective was to test the efficacy of moderated social media discussions about COVID-19 vaccines in private Facebook groups. Unvaccinated U.

Economic risk framing increases intention to vaccinate among Republican COVID-19 vaccine refusers.

Objective: To determine if framing communications about COVID-19 vaccines in economic terms can increase Republicans' likelihood to get vaccinated.

Methods: We examined Twitter posts between January 2020 and September 2021 by Democratic and Republican politicians to determine how they framed the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these posts, we carried out a survey study between September and November 2021 to examine whether motivations for COVID-19 vaccine uptake matched message frames that were widely used by these politicians.

Gist Representations and Decision-Making Processes Affecting Antibiotic Prescribing for Children with Acute Otitis Media.

Unlabelled: To test the predictions of fuzzy-trace theory regarding pediatric clinicians' decision-making processes and risk perceptions about antibiotics for children with acute otitis media (AOM). We conducted an online survey experiment administered to a sample of 260 pediatric clinicians. We measured their risk perceptions and prescribing decisions across 3 hypothetical AOM treatment scenarios.

Digital Media for Behavior Change: Review of an Emerging Field of Study.

Digital media are omnipresent in modern life, but the science on the impact of digital media on behavior is still in its infancy. There is an emerging evidence base of how to use digital media for behavior change. Strategies to change behavior implemented using digital technology have included a variety of platforms and program strategies, all of which are potentially more effective with increased frequency, intensity, interactivity, and feedback.

The impact of Facebook's vaccine misinformation policy on user endorsements of vaccine content: An interrupted time series analysis.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of Facebook's vaccine misinformation policy in March 2019 on user endorsements of vaccine content on its platform.

Methods: We identified 172 anti- and pro-vaccine Facebook Pages and collected posts from these Pages six months before and after the policy. Using interrupted time series regression models, we evaluated the policy impact on user endorsements (i.

Anticipating IQOS market expansion in the United States.

IQOS is sold globally in over 60 countries and entered the US market in 2019 and by 17 May 2021, it was sold in four states: Georgia (Atlanta, Buford), Virginia (Richmond, Tysons), North Carolina (Charlotte, Raleigh), and South Carolina (Charleston, Myrtle Beach), and had 52 specialty stores and 400 retail outlets. While US sales stopped on 29 November 2021 due to a patent lawsuit, they may resume in the near future. As IQOS distribution will likely expand in the future throughout the US, surveillance systems are needed to inform local and national regulatory efforts.

An Investigation of Influential Users in the Promotion and Marketing of Heated Tobacco Products on Instagram: A Social Network Analysis.

While an increasing body of the literature has documented the exposure to emerging tobacco products including heated tobacco products (HTPs) on social media, few studies have investigated the various stakeholders involved in the generation of promotional tobacco content. This study constructed a social network of Instagram users who posted IQOS content, a leading HTP brand, between 1 January and 5 April 2021 and identified users who positioned near the center of the network. We identified 4526 unique Instagram users who had created 19,951 IQOS-related posts during the study period.

Twitter and Facebook posts about COVID-19 are less likely to spread misinformation compared to other health topics.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought widespread attention to an "infodemic" of potential health misinformation. This claim has not been assessed based on evidence. We evaluated if health misinformation became more common during the pandemic.

Viruses, Vaccines, and COVID-19: Explaining and Improving Risky Decision-making.

Risky decision-making lies at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic and will determine future viral outbreaks. Therefore, a critical evaluation of major explanations of such decision-making is of acute practical importance. We review the underlying mechanisms and predictions offered by expectancy-value and dual-process theories.

IQOS marketing strategies in the USA before and after US FDA modified risk tobacco product authorisation.

Introduction: Given that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised reduced exposure messaging to be used in IQOS marketing, we examined: (1) IQOS ad content; (2) advertising media channels and (3) changes in advertising efforts over time.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study regarding IQOS ad content (headlines, themes, images), ad occurrence characteristics (including content, media channels and adspend) in the USA from August 2019 to April 2021 using Numerator advertising/marketing data.

Results: Across 24 unique ads and 591 occurrences (84.

Questioning the Yelp Effect: Mixed Methods Analysis of Web-Based Reviews of Urgent Cares.

Background: Providers of on-demand care, such as those in urgent care centers, may prescribe antibiotics unnecessarily because they fear receiving negative reviews on web-based platforms from unsatisfied patients-the so-called Yelp effect. This effect is hypothesized to be a significant driver of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, which exacerbates antibiotic resistance.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine the frequency with which patients left negative reviews on web-based platforms after they expected to receive antibiotics in an urgent care setting but did not.

Not just conspiracy theories: Vaccine opponents and proponents add to the COVID-19 'infodemic' on Twitter.

In February 2020, the World Health Organization announced an 'infodemic' -- a deluge of both accurate and inaccurate health information -- that accompanied the global pandemic of COVID-19 as a major challenge to effective health communication. We assessed content from the most active vaccine accounts on Twitter to understand how existing online communities contributed to the 'infodemic' during the early stages of the pandemic. While we expected vaccine opponents to share misleading information about COVID-19, we also found vaccine proponents were not immune to spreading less reliable claims.

Spread of Misinformation About Face Masks and COVID-19 by Automated Software on Facebook.

This cross-sectional study examines the spread of misinformation regarding the Danish Study to Assess Face Masks for the Protection Against COVID-19 Infection on Facebook.