Tweets can signal health issues: Report 

The way people express their opinions and emotions on microblogging site Twitter may signal the rise of influenza, depression or other health issues in a specific area, an analysis of millions of anonymous tweets has revealed.

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According to experts:

•  Opinions and emotions are present in every tweet, regardless of whether
  the user is talking about their health.
• Furthermore,like a digital heartbeat, we’re finding how changes in this behaviour relateto health trends in a community.
• It takes health workers weeks to discover influenza trends the traditional
  way: By monitoring how many sick people visit clinics.
• However, by discovering trends in real time, social media could be the
  game-changing solution public health workers have been looking for, the
  researchers said.
• In addition,to truly tap this source of public data, researchers sought to understand patterns of how people behave differently on social media when they are sick.

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Team analysed:

• The team analysed 171 million tweets from users associated with the US
  military.
•  To determine if the opinions and emotions they express reflect visits to the doctor for influenza-like illnesses.
• In addition,they compared military and civilian users from 25 US.
• And six international locations to see if this pattern varies based on
  location or military affiliation.
• They found that how people behaves varies significantly by location and
  group.
•  Furthermore, neutral opinions and sadness were expressed most during high influenza-like illness periods.
• During low illness periods, positive opinion, anger, and surprise were
  expressed more.

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