Text box 1. Contributions to the literature
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, analysis of social media conversations about health topics became more common to inform health communication and digital engagement.
• Health authorities and their partners have used commercial tools for social media analysis which were repurposed from commercial marketing purposes to public health analysis.
• A first-ever survey was conducted among those who used social media analysis tools to inform public health, identifying gaps in their utility and in skills analysis need to apply them for infodemic insights development in public health.
• The results point to most needed actions to address training, capacity building and leadership needs of analysts working in public health, thus informing workforce development and analytics platform selection.