Organizational Communication & Social Media: Use of the Information, Community, and Action (ICA) Model to Understand Public Sentiments about a Controversial Health Topic

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis:  This study uses the Information, Community, and Action (ICA) model (Lovejoy & Saxton, 2012) to assess population sentiment about breastfeeding and nursing in public spaces; and to identify messaging tactics public health organizations can employ when engaging with the public and their stakeholders. Prior studies have demonstrated that public-service organizations engage in digital spaces for two primary objectives: information-sharing and dialogic relationship-building (Jansen et al, 2009; Waters et al, 2009). The ICA helps researchers understand, more specifically, how these organizations are using microblogging to engage the public. This study extends the use of the ICA model to characterize public response patterns and sentiments about a controversial health topic via a socially-mediated platform. The research questions are: Q1. How did respondents use a popular social networking platform to discuss a controversial health topic? Q2. What are the attitudes and beliefs about breastfeeding and nursing in public spaces held by targeted social media users? Q3. What messaging/framing opportunities exist for public health organizations seeking to educate audiences about breastfeeding and nursing in public spaces? and Q4. What response and interaction patterns were demonstrated in the public comments?

Methods and Results (informing the conceptual analysis):  Historical analysis of public comments in response to a news story about a campaign encouraging the establishment of lactation rooms for breastfeeding and nursing mothers in public spaces were analyzed. The story was shared by a national news organization via Facebook, a social networking platform, on February, 9, 2016; and from that post, 248 public comments (128 parent comments; and 120 replies) were used for this analysis. A codebook was developed, informed by constructs of the ICA. A deductive, thematic analysis guided the grouping of themes into domains under the dmodel constructs; each domain was segmented into related subcategories. Qualitative methods were employed to describe the type(s) of responses (e.g. information sharing, engaging with community members, and calls to action), the levels of support for breastfeeding and nursing in public spaces; and presence of misinformation among respondents.

Conclusions:  Findings are forthcoming. Findings from this research may contribute to organizational-level research on social media engagement and communications strategies to address controversial health topics.

Implications for research and/or practice:  The rapid diffusion of social networking platforms brings new opportunities for organizations to communicate with and engage their core stakeholders and the general public. This research extends the known uses of mediated platforms by public organizations and offers insights for strategic communication practice, as it relates to controversial public health issues.