A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media

Cultured-meat products, which have been hailed for their potential to address multiple drawbacks of traditional meat production, have received regulatory approval in countries including Singapore and the United States and are experiencing rapid market growth. The name of any product could influence...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tianli Chen, Leona Yi-Fan Su, Yee Man Margaret Ng, Yi-Cheng Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-01-01
Series:Current Research in Food Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927124001850
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846125177710051328
author Tianli Chen
Leona Yi-Fan Su
Yee Man Margaret Ng
Yi-Cheng Wang
author_facet Tianli Chen
Leona Yi-Fan Su
Yee Man Margaret Ng
Yi-Cheng Wang
author_sort Tianli Chen
collection DOAJ
description Cultured-meat products, which have been hailed for their potential to address multiple drawbacks of traditional meat production, have received regulatory approval in countries including Singapore and the United States and are experiencing rapid market growth. The name of any product could influence public perceptions of it, and thereby affect consumption; and how cultured-meat products should be labeled remains the subject of debate. However, conducting large-scale consumer tests aimed at understanding the association between public perceptions of such products and the various proposed labels/names for them would be time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, this longitudinal research project on how five common cultured-meat labels have been used, and the associations between particular labels and public perceptions, instead relied on 424,382 relevant messages posted or retweeted on Twitter/X between July 2010 and December 2022. This novel approach enabled us to identify a dynamic interplay between label choice and public perceptions, and that each label was associated with a unique set of topics. Also, using social-network analysis, we were able to delineate the structures of cultured meat-related retweet networks and identify the key influencers within them. Our analysis revealed the importance of labeling within the challenging process of arriving at a consensus about what cultured meat should be called.
format Article
id doaj-art-8b3d09df10b945c49a8a90b6c77b3c1b
institution Kabale University
issn 2665-9271
language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Current Research in Food Science
spelling doaj-art-8b3d09df10b945c49a8a90b6c77b3c1b2024-12-13T11:03:16ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Food Science2665-92712024-01-019100859A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social mediaTianli Chen0Leona Yi-Fan Su1Yee Man Margaret Ng2Yi-Cheng Wang3Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USACharles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA; Corresponding author.Department of Journalism, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USADepartment of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA; Corresponding author.Cultured-meat products, which have been hailed for their potential to address multiple drawbacks of traditional meat production, have received regulatory approval in countries including Singapore and the United States and are experiencing rapid market growth. The name of any product could influence public perceptions of it, and thereby affect consumption; and how cultured-meat products should be labeled remains the subject of debate. However, conducting large-scale consumer tests aimed at understanding the association between public perceptions of such products and the various proposed labels/names for them would be time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, this longitudinal research project on how five common cultured-meat labels have been used, and the associations between particular labels and public perceptions, instead relied on 424,382 relevant messages posted or retweeted on Twitter/X between July 2010 and December 2022. This novel approach enabled us to identify a dynamic interplay between label choice and public perceptions, and that each label was associated with a unique set of topics. Also, using social-network analysis, we were able to delineate the structures of cultured meat-related retweet networks and identify the key influencers within them. Our analysis revealed the importance of labeling within the challenging process of arriving at a consensus about what cultured meat should be called.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927124001850NomenclatureFood labelingPublic perceptionsTwitterSocial-network analysis
spellingShingle Tianli Chen
Leona Yi-Fan Su
Yee Man Margaret Ng
Yi-Cheng Wang
A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media
Current Research in Food Science
Nomenclature
Food labeling
Public perceptions
Twitter
Social-network analysis
title A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media
title_full A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media
title_fullStr A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media
title_full_unstemmed A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media
title_short A longitudinal analysis of usage patterns, topics, and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media
title_sort longitudinal analysis of usage patterns topics and information dissemination related to five names for cultured meat on social media
topic Nomenclature
Food labeling
Public perceptions
Twitter
Social-network analysis
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927124001850
work_keys_str_mv AT tianlichen alongitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia
AT leonayifansu alongitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia
AT yeemanmargaretng alongitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia
AT yichengwang alongitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia
AT tianlichen longitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia
AT leonayifansu longitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia
AT yeemanmargaretng longitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia
AT yichengwang longitudinalanalysisofusagepatternstopicsandinformationdisseminationrelatedtofivenamesforculturedmeatonsocialmedia