Volume 18, No. 6, 2021

Covid-19 And Social Media: Behavioral Change And Public Awareness


Mazhar Ali , Aftab Ahmed , Farooq Ahmad Khan , Muhammad Asghar , Siddiq Ullah

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the function of social media (RSM) with the primary objective of elucidating the factors influencing its role in knowledge dissemination, raising public awareness, behavioral influences, and misuse during Pakistan's novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The researcher used a questionnaire to perform an online survey, and a convenient sampling method was used to collect responses from 272 respondents. Analyses of quantitative data by using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and the hypothesis test is used to assess the importance of each construct's effect on dependent variables. According to data analysis, social media has a significant effect on public perception of Covid-19. The findings indicate that 6% of respondents did not use any social media platform to obtain information of any kind, while 11% did not use any social media platform to exchange information about the corona virus. Social media efforts were crucial in shifting society's attitudes toward social distancing and cleanliness initiatives during the lockdown. However, there are shreds of evidence of social media misuse through misinformation that sowed panic and fear in society. Additionally, guidelines are derived from the findings about the successful use of social media during the COVID-19 crisis.


Pages: 8553-8571

Keywords: Social Media; COVID-19; Public Awareness; Lockdown; Misinformation; Pakistan.

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