User:Go23bears/sandbox

Impact of Covid-19 on social media

During a time of social distance and limited contact with others, social media became an important place to interact. Social media platforms are meant to connect people and helped the world remain connected during a time of social distance. Platforms were heavily used in the COVID-19 pandemic by politicians, political movements, and national and state level health organizations to share information quickly and reach a lot of people.

In addition to being a global threat, Covid-19 is referred to as an infodemic. The direct access to content through platforms such as  Twitter and Youtube leave users susceptible to rumors and questionable information. ^[1] This information can strongly influence individual behaviors, limiting group cohesion and therefore the effectiveness of government countermeasures to the virus. ^[2]

Increase in Usage

Increased Engagement

In a study of people’s engagement on the internet and social media collected from July 2019 - 2020 indicated a 10.5% increase of active social media users.^[3] Instagram reported a 70% increase in viewers of live videos from February to March when lockdown measures began. ^[4] A study in July, four months after the first COVID-19 lockdown measures, polled what individuals' purpose was when they used  social media as well as other connective technologies. 83% of people stated it "helps me cope with COVID-19 related lockdown"^[5] This was the largest response measured against other responses such as education, keeping in touch with friends and family, and work which were 76%, 74%, and 67% respectively, and reflects the reliance on social media in critical aspects of people’s lives during the pandemic.

Misinformation

Many platforms struggled to moderate what was posted and shared in a timely manner before misinformation was spread. This was due to an increase in AI usage as many human moderators were sent home during shelter in place orders and faced contract restrictions and couldn't continue their work at home.^[6] This system failed to prevent COVID-19 misinformation from spreading as well as took down other valuable information and links to articles.^[7]

Fighting an Infodemic

COVID-19 has increased the World Health Organizations (WHO) usage of social media as well. The platform WHO Information Network for Epidemics was created after COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency. The 20 person staff work to provide evidence based answers to combat rumors found across platforms and ensure any “coronavirus” search across social media platforms as well as Google directs them to the WHO website or Center for Disease Control providing reliable information. ^[8]

Black Lives Matter Movement

The Black Lives Matter movement was able to help spread awareness online through Black Out Tuesday. During Blackout Tuesday, Black screens and the hashtag #blacklivesmatter and #blackouttuesday flooded feeds across multiple social media platforms. Instagram saw the largest increased interest in political movements through their app after Blackout Tuesday. Some examples include the NAACP gaining a record 1 million additional Instagram followers during the movement and Black Lives Matter Los Angeles account increasing 110,000 in just a matter of weeks.^[9] Content on the app has also seen an increase in political and social-justice posts through digital flyers, activist statements, and quotes are created and reshared.

Increased politics

Politics on platforms

Social Media is historically highly political on Twitter and Facebook given the participation of older generations on these platforms. Instagram saw a surge of political posts and engagement with political organizations during the pandemic.Younger generations previously seen as not as politically inclined increased in political activism and interest on Instagram. A UNICEF study of 490 children from 26 countries found that children value technology as a way to research the issues their communities face, to be informed about events and issues, to gather data, to share views and experiences with others.^[10]

It is also argued that the lockdown has led to a lack of content for many creators and influencers who are not traveling, going to the gym, or doing any of their other regular activities that they would typically post about. Politics is something that was ongoing and they could post about as restaurants, bars and stores were closed and vacations were cancelled.

Usage by World Leaders

Political Campaigns

Peer Editing: Nihal Singh: Hi, I think you used good sources to cover your argument, however, I think you can increase your depth in content. When I read your article, I loved the points you covered and the relevance they have with the current times, I just wish it sounded a little more neutral. Maybe the things you can do to help with that is include opposing points of view and the increase in polarization due to the epidemic itself as the pandemic somehow becomes grounds for a political platform. I would also suggest getting rid of the BLM Movement situation as that seems to be a little off topic to the disease and its spread of social media itself and rather explain how most people sitting at home as led to people increasing social media movements and then use BLM as an example. Other than that you had good pieces, I think you just need a little development in structural writing here and there.

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