Usage of Facebook by Student Leaders in Creating Awareness Regarding Covid-19 in Guwahati

Abstract

Pandemic like COVID-19 has triggered disruptions in personal and collective lives globally. It is not only a pandemic, but also an Infodemic of misinformation about the virus which raises demand for reliable and trustworthy information. With the advent of social media creation and consumption of news have been changing among the young generation. Student leaders have taken on additional work and assumed new responsibilities by volunteering in their communities and creating awareness among the public about the accuracy of information and measures to be taken against the deadly virus. This study explores the use of Facebook handles by the student leaders of two universities in Guwahati in creating awareness about the health-related messages regarding Covid-19 and its vaccination. The researcher will use critical discourse analysis to evaluate the use of social networking sites by the students’ leaders. To understand the usage by the leaders, Facebook pages of the leaders would be followed and studied backed with unstructured interviews with the leaders to understand the purpose of and pattern of using the social media handles.