Examination of how the use of multimedia characteristics, political partisanship and perceived organizational reputation influence perceived message effectiveness and attitudes toward the message of health organizations’ COVID-19 tweets

Abstract

Based on the social presence theory, this study aimed to examine the potential impact of using multimedia characteristics within health communication tweets in terms of perceived message effectiveness and attitudes toward the message. In addition, this study also analyzed how political partisanship and perceived reputation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) might predict perceived message effectiveness and attitudes toward the message. Data (N = 167) was collected from undergraduate students in communication and journalism classes from a large southeastern university via an online experiment (three-group between-subjects design) through Qualtrics. No significant difference was found among the type of tweet (i.e., tweet using emojis, tweet using a GIF file, text-only tweet) in relation to perceived message effectiveness or attitudes toward the message. Political partisanship and perceived reputation of the CDC were significant factors in predicting perceived message effectiveness and attitudes toward the message. Those who identified themselves as a Democrat and those who showed a higher perceived reputation of CDC were more likely to have higher perceived messages effectiveness and attitudes toward the message.