Case study explores the impact of social-media sites on the spread of disease

A scientist examining attitudes toward the H1N1 vaccine has developed and implemented the first case study in how social-media sites can affect the spread of the disease. Marcel Salathé, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University, explored how users of Twitter expressed their opinions about a new vaccine. According to ScienceDaily, he "then tracked how the users' attitudes correlated with vaccination rates, and how microbloggers with the same negative or positive feelings seemed to influence others in their social circles."