Social presence for strategic health messages: An examination of state governments' use of Twitter to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scholars investigated the role of social presence theory in numerous communication contexts. However, we have limited knowledge about the impact of social presence strategies on public attention during a pandemic. This study fills this gap by investigating the connections between social presence strategies, Covid-19 strategies, and public attention. Twitter data of state governments from January 21, 2020 to July 21, 2020 were downloaded for this study. Content analysis of 1500 randomly selected posts revealed that social presence strategies were effective in generating public attention on Twitter. Furthermore, expressing appreciation, providing guidance, and informing the publics about governments' actions generated public attention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.