Reaction on Social Media to Online News Headlines Following the Release of Canada’s Food Guide
Publication: Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research
9 September 2020
Abstract
This paper investigated how traditional media headlines framed the release of Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) online in 2019 and how audiences reacted to its release on social media. Titles of online news articles, Facebook comments on news stories, and tweets from Twitter were collected using Meltwater and manual data collection. Leximancer software conducted conceptual extraction and relational analyses on written words and visual text. Human coding was completed to contextualize the content, which identified 9 prominent frames (food guide, impact, health, sustainable plant food, who will use?, Canadian culture, food and consumption practices, meat, and dairy). Results suggested that online news headlines highlighted CFG release and alluded to potential impacts. Analysis of Facebook comments revealed that the most commonly discussed frames were health, food and consumption behaviours, sustainable plant food, and meat, while the majority of the tweets were in direct reference to CFG being released, oftentimes with a link to another webpage, and discussed the intersect between health and food and consumption practices. In conclusion, the analysis revealed how frames emerged from social media users that shifted the discussion away from CFG release and impact to the influence of health and food and a plant versus meat debate.
Résumé
Cette étude a exploré comment les médias traditionnels ont couvert la publication en ligne du Guide alimentaire canadien (GAC) en 2019 et comment le public a réagi à cette publication sur les médias sociaux. Les titres des articles publiés en ligne, les commentaires Facebook sur les nouvelles et les microbillets sur Twitter ont été colligés à l’aide de Meltwater et par collecte manuelle de données. Le logiciel Leximancer a effectué des extractions conceptuelles et des analyses relationnelles de mots écrits et de textes visuels. Du codage humain a été réalisé dans le but de contextualiser le contenu, ce qui a permis de faire ressortir 9 grands thèmes (guide alimentaire, impact, santé, aliments végétaux durables, utilisateurs potentiels, culture canadienne, pratiques alimentaires et de consommation, viande et produits laitiers). Les résultats suggèrent que les manchettes en ligne ont souligné la publication du GAC et ont fait allusion à ses impacts potentiels. L’analyse des commentaires Facebook a révélé que les thèmes les plus souvent abordés étaient la santé, les comportements alimentaires et de consommation, les aliments végétaux durables et la viande, tandis que la majorité des microbillets faisaient directement référence à la publication du GAC, souvent en ajoutant un lien vers une autre page Web, et traitaient de l’intersection entre la santé et les pratiques alimentaires et de consommation. En conclusion, l’analyse a révélé comment les thèmes ont émergé des commentaires des utilisateurs des médias sociaux, qui ont fait dévier la discussion en parlant de l’influence de la santé et des aliments, et du débat alimentation végétale vs carnée, plutôt que de la publication du GAC et de son impact.
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Published In
Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research
Volume 82 • Number 1 • March 2021
Pages: 16 - 20
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Version of record online: 9 September 2020
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© 2021.
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Sarah J.WoodruffPhD, PaigeCoynePhD(c), JoryFulcherMHK(c), RebeccaReaganMHK, LarissaRowdonBHK, SaraSantarossaPhD, and AnnPegoraroPhD. 2021. Reaction on Social Media to Online News Headlines Following the Release of Canada’s Food Guide. Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research.
82(1): 16-20. https://doi.org/10.3148/cjdpr-2020-022
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