Britt, Brian C. "The evolution of discourse in online communities devoted to a pandemic." Health Communication 38.5 (2023): 1041-1053.

This longitudinal study investigates the co-evolution of three COVID-19-focused subreddits during the early stages of the outbreak, using latent Dirichlet allocation. Findings reveal the importance of being the first community to address a crisis, how latecomers differentiate themselves, and individuals' detachment toward pandemic developments. The study underscores the need for health communication professionals to overcome barriers in persuading audiences to take health crises seriously and suggests exploring coordination among community administrators and user agency in co-evolutionary processes.