A Novel Graph-Based Approach to Identify Opinion Leaders in Twitter

This study explores the influence of social media on health-related discourse amid the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on Italian-language tweets posted on Twitter from March 2020 to December 2021. Analyzing a dataset comprising 13 million tweets, the research addresses three key questions: who emerged as opinion leaders on Twitter during the pandemic in Italy?; did health institutions in Italy successfully establish themselves as opinion leaders?; and how did the content of COVID-19-related tweets in Italy evolve over time? Employing a custom-designed graph and the personalized PageRank algorithm, the study identifies opinion leaders on Twitter. Additionally, psycholinguistic analysis provides insights into the content, themes, and emotional undertones of the tweets. The findings of this research contribute to a deeper understanding of social media's influence on public opinion and behavior during the pandemic. Furthermore, they offer valuable insights for public health officials and policymakers seeking to address health-related issues on social media platforms.