The activity and discussion points of #Circumcision through Twitter; a microblogging platform

Abstract

Objectives Our objective was to elucidate the discussion points of circumcision on social media (SoMe) by looking at the Twitter activity. Material and methods Twitter searched for #circumcision hashtag via www.tweetarchivist.com, www.twitonomy.com, www.symplur.com. Total tweet numbers, most influencers, top users were documented. Tweets including female circumcision were excluded. The contents of the tweets were classified into four subgroups (medical, religious, social, and political) by two independent reviewers. All kinds of tweet activities were statistically analyzed. Results A total of 9795 users generated 15,989 tweets about circumcision in a 1 month period. Mean daily tweet activity was 532 for #circumcision. The content analysis revealed that 2224 (15.8%) medical, 1133 (8.0%) religious, 323 (2.2%) social and 10,470 (74.0%) political tweets have been sent out by the users. Contributors originated from 174 countries from 6 continents. Media organizations were accounted for 52% of the top 25 influencers in circumcision hashtag. The most common hashtags accompanying #circumcision were #HIV (4.9%), #babiesgotherpes (3.3%), #muslim (1.8%), #malegenitalmutilation (1.6%) respectively. Conclusions There is an increasing discussion about circumcision through SoMe. Our results provided that the discussion points are mostly driven by the media and the activists. The political tweets have been found to be the center of the discussion. SoMe usage should be increased by medical professionals for true information of the public.