Government health agencies utilize social media for public health interventions. This study examines how CDC, the national public health agency of the United States, use Facebook to disseminate COVID-19 vaccine messages and to get public engagement towards them over the past two years (2020-2022). Investigating the process of dialogic potentials of Facebook from the dialogic theory of public relations perspective, the current study analyzes 681 posts and 3,405 comments from CDC’s official Facebook page. Thematic analysis of posts yields three dominant themes such as “Vaccine supportive”, “availability of vaccine”, and “up to date information”. Comment analysis shows positive sentiment to vaccine promotion but negative sentiment for pregnant women’s vaccine uptake. Parents of children lack of confidence to get them vaccinated. Drawing on dialogic theory, the study argues, CDC needs to escalate “usefulness of information” (e.g., audio-visual production) principle while crafting messages for vaccination. The study concludes by calling for building an active “dialogic loop” by responding to users’ comments as much as possible. Practical implications and importance of findings are discussed.
","abstract_html":"<p>Government health agencies utilize social media for public health interventions. This study examines how CDC, the national public health agency of the United States, use <em>Facebook</em> to disseminate COVID-19 vaccine messages and to get public engagement towards them over the past two years (2020-2022). Investigating the process of dialogic potentials of <em>Facebook</em> from the dialogic theory of public relations perspective, the current study analyzes 681 posts and 3,405 comments from CDC’s official <em>Facebook</em> page. Thematic analysis of posts yields three dominant themes such as “Vaccine supportive”, “availability of vaccine”, and “up to date information”. Comment analysis shows positive sentiment to vaccine promotion but negative sentiment for pregnant women’s vaccine uptake. Parents of children lack of confidence to get them vaccinated. Drawing on dialogic theory, the study argues, CDC needs to escalate “usefulness of information” (e.g., audio-visual production) principle while crafting messages for vaccination. The study concludes by calling for building an active “dialogic loop” by responding to users’ comments as much as possible. Practical implications and importance of findings are discussed.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Faisal, Hasan Mahmud"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin","Dr. Fei Xue","Dr. Kathryn Anthony"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z","subjects":["COVID-19","Vaccine","CDC","Facebook","Public engagement","Dialogic principles","Arts and Humanities"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/944","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin","Dr. Fei Xue","Dr. Kathryn Anthony"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Faisal, Hasan Mahmud"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-04-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["COVID-19","Vaccine","CDC","Facebook","Public engagement","Dialogic principles","Arts and Humanities"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/944"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Government health agencies utilize social media for public health interventions. This study examines how CDC, the national public health agency of the United States, use Facebook to disseminate COVID-19 vaccine messages and to get public engagement towards them over the past two years (2020-2022). Investigating the process of dialogic potentials of Facebook from the dialogic theory of public relations perspective, the current study analyzes 681 posts and 3,405 comments from CDC’s official Facebook page. Thematic analysis of posts yields three dominant themes such as “Vaccine supportive”, “availability of vaccine”, and “up to date information”. Comment analysis shows positive sentiment to vaccine promotion but negative sentiment for pregnant women’s vaccine uptake. Parents of children lack of confidence to get them vaccinated. Drawing on dialogic theory, the study argues, CDC needs to escalate “usefulness of information” (e.g., audio-visual production) principle while crafting messages for vaccination. The study concludes by calling for building an active “dialogic loop” by responding to users’ comments as much as possible. Practical implications and importance of findings are discussed.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["CDC’S COVID-19 VACCINATION MESSAGES AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: A STUDY ON FACEBOOK POSTS"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin","Dr. Fei Xue","Dr. Kathryn Anthony"],"dc:creator":["Faisal, Hasan Mahmud"],"dc:date.available":["2024-04-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Government health agencies utilize social media for public health interventions. This study examines how CDC, the national public health agency of the United States, use Facebook to disseminate COVID-19 vaccine messages and to get public engagement towards them over the past two years (2020-2022). Investigating the process of dialogic potentials of Facebook from the dialogic theory of public relations perspective, the current study analyzes 681 posts and 3,405 comments from CDC’s official Facebook page. Thematic analysis of posts yields three dominant themes such as “Vaccine supportive”, “availability of vaccine”, and “up to date information”. Comment analysis shows positive sentiment to vaccine promotion but negative sentiment for pregnant women’s vaccine uptake. Parents of children lack of confidence to get them vaccinated. Drawing on dialogic theory, the study argues, CDC needs to escalate “usefulness of information” (e.g., audio-visual production) principle while crafting messages for vaccination. The study concludes by calling for building an active “dialogic loop” by responding to users’ comments as much as possible. Practical implications and importance of findings are discussed.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/944"],"dc:subject":["COVID-19","Vaccine","CDC","Facebook","Public engagement","Dialogic principles","Arts and Humanities"],"dc:title":["CDC’S COVID-19 VACCINATION MESSAGES AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: A STUDY ON FACEBOOK POSTS"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z"}