1.
Hashtag #TBI:
How do Traumatic Brain Injury communities
communicate and network in Twitter?
a.University of Newcastle
b.University of Sydney
c.NHMRC CRE Brain Recovery
d.Australian National University
e.Deakin University
Melissa Brunnera, Bronwyn Hemsleya, Leanne Togherbc, Stephen Dannd, Stuart Palmere
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP

2.
#TwitterMind Research - What’s in a tweet?
User’s Twitter name
(their ‘handle’)
Topic #hashtags can
be used to reach a
much wider audience
Still 4 characters left
(from the max of 140)
Add different types of
media - pictures,
GIFs, polls, location
details…
Add links to external
content, e.g. blog
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Read more: Structural layers of Twitter (Bruns & Moe 2014)

3.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
#TBI study - Method
Hashtag search - March 2016
Analysis via:
a) Content Classification framework (Dann 2015)
(i) conversational; (ii) news; (iii) pass-along; (iv) social presence; and (v) status broadcast
b) Inductive, qualitative thematic coding (Hemsley et al. 2014, 2017)
c) Computational analysis – visualisations by Gephi and KH Coder
(Palmer 2014; Hemsley & Palmer 2016)

4.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Results
52,581 tweets
captured
(1st - 31st March 2016)
23,382 tweets
excluded
29,199 tweets
analysed
131
422
343
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
TBI-related Not TBI-related Unknown
166
297
The #TBI tweeting community
Tweets excluded if they were:
a) sent prior to 1st March;
b) irrelevant;
c) not written in English;
d) contained no content;
e) spam; or
f) adverts.

5.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
The #TBI tweeting community
219
42
8
7
5
5
4
3
2
2
0 50 100 150 200 250
Person with TBI/BI
TBI-related Organisation
Health professional
TBI-related Product
TBI Community group or forum
Academic
Health advocate
Staff of TBI Organisation
Parent of person with TBI
Veteran organisation
TBI-related users (n=297)

6.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Computational analysis – Gephi
Undirected
tweets
Complicated
interactions
‘Plumes’
Unconnected

7.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Content classification of tweets
23077
4000
1419
406 297
Pass Along
Conversational
Status Broadcast
News
Social Presence

8.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Preliminary content
thematic analysis
Preliminary
analysis
Sharing TBI-
related info
Raising
Awareness
Personal
Insights
Rehabilitation
& Recovery
Film and
Media
Inspirational
&
Motivational
Social
Connection

9.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Content thematic analysis – Conversational tweets
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
No.ofconversationaltweets

10.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Content thematic analysis – 7 broad categories
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
TBI
Awareness
Film and
Media
Lived
experience
TBI Service Inspiration Humour Impact of TBI
on families
and
communities
No.oftweets
Status Broadcast tweets Conversational tweets

11.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Content thematic analysis – Film and Media
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Opinion of
Concussion
movie
Acting in
Concussion
movie
Watching the
Concussion
movie
Making sense of
Concussion
movie relating
meaning to sport
Making sense of
Concussion
movie relating
meaning to own
life
Making sense of
Concussion
movie relating
meaning to
relationship of
industry in sport
Promotion of
Concussion
movie
Quote from
Concussion
movie
Reading the
book
(Concussion
movie)
Status Broadcast (all Film and Media tweets related to the Concussion movie)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Concussion
movie
Concussion in
sport
News Documentary Research Politics Book Television drama Tour
Conversational

12.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Content thematic analysis – Lived experience
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Feelings after
TBI
Strategies Changes in
cognition after
TBI
Changes in
physical ability
Events Rehabilitation
after TBI
Changes in
activity and
participation
Research
No.oftweets
Status broadcast tweets Conversational tweets

13.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Content thematic analysis – Lived experience
Frustration
Vulnerability
TraumaticAcceptance
Generosity

14.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Computational analysis - KH Coder
Disseminating
information
Raising
awareness
Sport and TBI
Everyday life
with a brain
injury
Mental health
Rehabilitation
and recovery
Hope and
encouragement

15.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
Clinical Implications
Clinicians
Support people with
TBI to use Twitter*
Listen to TBI-related
discussions on
Twitter
Use Twitter for
Research Translation
*Brunner et al. (2015); Paterson (in press, 2017)

16.
Limitations and Directions for Future Research
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP

17.
References
Brunner M, Hemsley B, Palmer S, Dann S, Togher L (2015). Review of the literature on the use of social media by people with
traumatic brain injury (TBI). Disability and Rehabilitation, 37(2): p. 1511–1521.
Bruns A, Moe H (2014). Structural layers of communication on Twitter. In: Weller K, Bruns A, Burgess Mahrt M, Puschmann C, eds.
Twitter and society. New York: Peter Lang: p. 15–28.
Dann S (2015). Benchmarking Micro-Blog Performance: Twitter Content Classification Framework, in Maximizing Commerce and
Marketing Strategies through Micro-Blogging, Burkhalter J and Wood N, Editors. IGI Global: Hershey. p. 313-332.
Hemsley B, Dann S, Palmer S, Allan M, Balandin S (2015). “We definitely need an audience”: experiences of Twitter, Twitter
networks and tweet content in adults with severe communication disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication
(AAC). Disability and rehabilitation, 37(17), 1531-1542.
Hemsley B, Palmer S (2016, January). Two Studies on Twitter Networks and Tweet Content in Relation to Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS): Conversation, Information, and ‘Diary of a Daily Life’. In Digital Health Innovation for Consumers, Clinicians,
Connectivity and Community: Selected Papers from the 24th Australian National Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2016) (Vol.
227, p. 41-47). Available at http://ebooks.iospress.nl/volumearticle/44287.
Hemsley B, Palmer S, Goonan W, Dann S (2017, January). Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
(ALS): Social Media Communication on Selected# MND and# ALS Tagged Tweets. In Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International
Conference on System Sciences. Available at https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/41613.
Hemsley B, Palmer S, Balandin S (2014). Tweet reach: A research protocol for using Twitter to increase information exchange in
people with communication disabilities. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 17(2): p. 84-89.
Palmer S (2014). Characterizing Twitter communication – a case study of international engineering academic units. Journal of
Marketing for Higher Education, 24(2): p. 257-273.
Paterson H (in press, 2017). The use of social media by adults with acquired conditions who use AAC: current gaps and
considerations in research. Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP

18.
Image acknowledgements
Preliminary content thematic analysis slide
Sharing info: http://thefreelancebookkeeper.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2013/02/woman_computer_file_share_400_clr_7854.png
Raising Awareness: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41DY8Zoss9L._SY355_.jpg
Personal Insights: http://pad1.whstatic.com/images/thumb/4/41/Tell-a-Great-Story-Step-3.jpg/aid1388407-728px-Tell-
a-Great-Story-Step-3.jpg
Rehabilitation & Recovery:
http://sunshinecoasthospital.com.au/sfimages/librariesprovider4/Rehabilitation/rehabilitation_837x290.jpg?sfvrsn=0
Film and Media: http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/000/09/concussion-movie-will-smith-omalu91.jpg
Inspirational/Motivational: http://www.momcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/You-Can-Do-Anything.jpg
Social Connection: http://media.gettyimages.com/videos/social-network-multicolored-white-background-video-
id472870593?s=640x640
Method slide
Twitter search: https://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/twitter-search-ft.jpg
NCapture: https://www.alfasoft.com/images/products/nvivo/images/ncapture-addon.png
NVivo: http://www.qsrinternational.com/MediaLibraries/QSR/test-3/NVivo-logo.png?ext=.png
Excel: https://cdn1.pcadvisor.co.uk/cmsdata/features/3641667/how-to-create-pivottables-main_thumb800.png
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP

19.
#TwitterMind
@LissBEE_CPSP
melissa.brunner@uon.edu.au
www.melissabrunner.wordpress.com
Questions?