Changes in language on Facebook posts could signal need for hospitalization or emergency services
As people got closer to needing hospital or emergency services, their Facebook posts grew more worrisome and anxious. They also began to increasingly discuss family and health.
Can Facebook posts predict who might soon end up in the emergency department?
They can, say University of Pennsylvania researchers who analyzed several thousand Facebook posts from patients who later sought care at an urban hospital.
The researchers developed a machine-learning model that examined linguistic features like vocabulary, the use of positive or negative emotion,
