{"id":1659,"date":"2021-03-18T09:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T14:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/?p=1659"},"modified":"2021-10-12T09:28:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T14:28:02","slug":"a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Laura Otto<br><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-wrong-covid-19-information\/\">UWM Research<\/a><br>February 8, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Growing up,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/people\/simanek-phd-mph-amanda\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Amanda Simanek<\/a>&nbsp;saw how friends and family sought out her father, an automotive mechanic, for trusted advice on car repairs. Years later, she\u2019s tapping into trust as a way to fight misinformation in the midst a global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simanek is an associate professor of epidemiology in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health<\/a>. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, she joined an all-female interdisciplinary team of scientists who launched a social media-based science communication campaign to answer questions about this new disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The initiative, called Dear Pandemic, provides comprehensive and unbiased information about COVID-19, delivered in easily digestible question-and-answer servings through posts on the social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Launched in March 2020 to help people navigate the onslaught of COVID-19 information, some factual and some not, the campaign now has more than 80,000 followers. \u201cOne of the key things we\u2019ve learned is how fundamental trust is to successful spreading of science-based information,\u201d Simanek says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those with COVID-19-related questions can&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dearpandemic.org\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">submit them via the campaign website<\/a>&nbsp;where previously answered questions are archived. The group uses a just-the-facts approach to provide practical, actionable information, and their followers often share and boost the messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy communicating on these channels, we\u2019re beating the spread of misinformation on social media at its own game,\u201d she says. \u201cSome of our posts reach upward of 100,000 people.\u201d Those metrics give Simanek and her colleagues a good start in the natural next step: assessing how effective this intervention has been at stopping the spread of misinformation and affecting pandemic-related health behaviors. The questions submitted by followers also provide additional data on potential holes in public understanding of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through this effort, Simanek and her colleagues are not only helping people know how best to protect themselves and others, but they are also laying the groundwork for researchers to understand best practices for science communication in the context of a global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team plans to continue its science communication efforts through Dear Pandemic as long as needed and may eventually transition the campaign into a permanent science education endeavor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Laura OttoUWM ResearchFebruary 8, 2021 Growing up,&nbsp;Amanda Simanek&nbsp;saw how friends and family sought out her father, an automotive mechanic, for trusted advice on car repairs. Years later, she\u2019s tapping into trust as a way to fight misinformation in the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":1660,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[66,43,65,38,42,44,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-engagement","category-covid-19","category-faculty-staff","category-news","category-partners-for-health-news","category-research","category-zilber-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Zilber College of Public Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Laura OttoUWM ResearchFebruary 8, 2021 Growing up,&nbsp;Amanda Simanek&nbsp;saw how friends and family sought out her father, an automotive mechanic, for trusted advice on car repairs. Years later, she\u2019s tapping into trust as a way to fight misinformation in the &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zilber College of Public Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-18T14:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-12T14:28:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2021\/10\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-18T14:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-12T14:28:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":367,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/571\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Community Engagement\",\"COVID-19\",\"Faculty &amp; Staff\",\"News\",\"Partners for Health News\",\"Research\",\"Zilber in the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/\",\"name\":\"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation - Zilber College of Public Health\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/571\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-18T14:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-12T14:28:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/571\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/571\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Miscommunication info graphic\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/\",\"name\":\"Zilber College of Public Health\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/571\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/571\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":224,\"caption\":\"University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/publichealth\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zilber College of Public Health","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation","og_description":"By Laura OttoUWM ResearchFebruary 8, 2021 Growing up,&nbsp;Amanda Simanek&nbsp;saw how friends and family sought out her father, an automotive mechanic, for trusted advice on car repairs. Years later, she\u2019s tapping into trust as a way to fight misinformation in the &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/","og_site_name":"Zilber College of Public Health","article_published_time":"2021-03-18T14:27:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-12T14:28:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2021\/10\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation","datePublished":"2021-03-18T14:27:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-12T14:28:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/"},"wordCount":367,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2021\/10\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg","articleSection":["Community Engagement","COVID-19","Faculty &amp; Staff","News","Partners for Health News","Research","Zilber in the News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/","name":"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation - Zilber College of Public Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2021\/10\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-18T14:27:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-12T14:28:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2021\/10\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2021\/10\/SpotlightCOVID_SimanekDearPandemic_BannerImage_1500x650_Illustration.jpg","width":600,"height":400,"caption":"Miscommunication info graphic"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/a-social-approach-to-fighting-covid-19-misinformation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A social approach to fighting COVID-19 misinformation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/","name":"Zilber College of Public Health","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/#organization","name":"University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2020\/11\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/571\/2020\/11\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","width":225,"height":224,"caption":"University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"acf":[],"meta_fields":{"_edit_lock":["1774651016:36073"],"_wp_old_date":["2021-10-12"],"_thumbnail_id":["1660"],"_edit_last":["11"],"feat_img_video":[""],"feat_img_caption":["feat-img-caption-on"],"breadcrumbs_display":["breadcrumbs-on"],"otp_nav_display":["otp-on-mobile"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["66"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["2"],"_uwm_wg_content_review_log":["a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:11:\"reviewer_id\";i:0;s:6:\"status\";s:5:\"reset\";s:10:\"entry_date\";s:19:\"2026-03-01 02:11:59\";s:16:\"priority_content\";s:0:\"\";s:4:\"note\";s:43:\"Content review reset at start of new cycle.\";}}"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1661,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions\/1661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/publichealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}