CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE AMBIVALENT POTENTIALS OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN COVID 19 PANDEMIC CAMPAIGNS

Ephraim Ejimnkeonye Ezebuenyi, Rosemary Obianuju Ekwunife, Felicia Chinyere Nweke

Abstract


The fear created by the Coronavirus as seen in the world today and the manner social media is churning out all manner of information (misinformation, disinformation, memes, innuendos, half - truths, lies etc.) about its cure and prevention is creating a situation of uncertainty. The situation becomes more disturbing since none of the claims in social media platforms regarding the therapies and recipes (solutions) for the cure or prevention of COVID-19 has been approved or certified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). It seems, however, that only the prevalence of social media can suffice for the provision of adequate, regular and up - to - date information on the pandemic. This can also explain the reason for leveraging social media platforms to enhance fast and wide diffusion of knowledge about Coronavirus all over the world. By its nature, social media allows for information to be readily shared – a role it has seemingly played in the face of the COVID- 19 pandemic - and unlike traditional news outlets there is no filter, no fact - checking and often a lot of bias. It becomes imperative therefore to assess the ambivalent potentials which social media display in the face of COVID- 19 pandemic vis-à-vis the impacts they have on the consumers of the information. The paper adopted the library research approach in which relevant conceptual literatures and empirical studies were analysed with the aim to ascertain whether social media display ambivalence in the campaign against the spread of COVID-19. The paper found, among others that the ambivalent potentials of social media use in the campaign against COVID-19 was glaring. It recommends, among others that consumers of social media products in this period should listen more to and, or check for updates by governments and other authorised agencies such as WHO and CDC rather than relying on unwholesome information from social media platforms.

Keywords


Critical assessment; Ambivalent potentials; Social media use; COVID-19 pandemic;

Full Text:

PDF

References


A B C D COVID-19 (28 March, 2020). “Social media use goes up as country stays indoors", Victoria News, Melbourne. Retrieved 15 April, 2020

Allen, K. A., Ryan, T., Gray, D.L., McInerney, D. M., Waters, L. (July 2014). "Social media use and social connectedness in adolescents: The positives and the potential pitfalls". The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist. 31 (1), 18–31.

Baran, S.J. & Davis, D.K. (2012) Mass communication theory: Foundation ferment and future. (6th ed.). Boston MA: Wadsworth

Berg, S. (28 February, 2020). "Doctor uses the reach of social media to ease COVID-19 pandemic fears". American Medical Association.Retrieved 21 April 2020.

Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 210-230.

Cui, J., Li, F., Shi, Z. (2019).Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses. Nat RevMicrobiol 2019;17(3):181–92.

Donovan, J. (2020). "Here how social media can combat the coronavirus'infodemic'". MIT Technology Review.

Ezebuenyi, E.E. (2014). The use of Facebook in enhancing electoral participation in Nigeria’s 2011 presidential election. Unpublished M.Sc Dissertation submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, Anambra State University, Igbariam Campus.

Ezebuenyi, E.E., Anagba, E. and Okika, E. (2018). Social media use and social isolation among the youths: Implication on sustenance of human dignity in the 21st century. ANSU Journal of Arts and Humanities (AJAH)Vol. 5 No 2, pp. 28-38

Gowan, Rob (9 April, 2020). "WES for Youth Online sees surge in counselling service use". Owen Sound Sun-Times. Retrieved 15 April 2020.

Hao, K. (2020)."The coronavirus is the first true social-media ‘infodemic’". MIT Technology Review

Kiefer, H. (18 April 2020). "Not only should you stream the phantom of the opera this weekend, you have to". Vulture. Retrieved 9 May 2020

Kushner, J. (2020). The role of social media in spreading COVID 19 information.https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118764438

Lai, C., Shih, T., Ko, W., Tang, H., Hsueh, P. (2019). Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus -2019 (COVID-19)

Law, T. (22 March, 2020). "Healthcare workers share selfies of exhausted faces after hard days treating COVID-19 patients". Times. Retrieved 21 April 2020.

Llewellyn, S. (25 March, 2020). "Covid-19: how to be careful with trust and expertise on social media". BMJ. 368: m1160. Doi:10.1136/bmj.m1160. PMID 32213480–via www.bmj.com.

Miller, D., et al. (2016). How the world changed social media. London: UCL Press.

Nicholson, T. (19 March, 2020). "These coronavirus memes will make life feel a little bit better". Esquire. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020.Retrieved 22 March 2020.

Nwabueze, C. D. and Ezebuenyi, E. E. (2012).Appraising the relevance of ICTs in awareness creation during elections. Journal of Linguistics and Communication Studies, 2, (1), 293- 302.

Obar, J.A. and Wildman, S. (2015). Social media definition and the governance challenge: An introduction to the special issue. Telecommunications Policy, 39(9), 745-750.; Quello Center Working Paper No. 2647377.

Okwodu, J. (2020)."We need joy to survive": Naomi Shimada on how to mindfully use social media in the age of social distancing". Vogue. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020.Retrieved 26 March 2020.

Phan, L.T., Nguyen, T.V., Luong, Q.C., Nguyen, T.V., Nguyen, H.T, Le, H.Q. (2020). Importation and human-to-human transmission of a novel coronavirus inVietnam. N Engl J Med 2020.

Riou, J., Althaus, C.L. (2020).Pattern of early human-to-human transmission of Wuhan2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), December 2019 to January 2020.Eurosurveillance.2020;25(4).




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.47851/naujocommed.v1i1.70

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Department of Mass Communication. Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka.

ISSN:2756-486X (Online)

Â