The role of social media platforms in facilitating COVID-19 pandemic protocols

Abstract

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic led to pain and panic across the globe and social media became the base for information sharing and communication. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social media platforms in facilitating COVID-19 pandemic protocol in society. Methodology: The study looks at the role of social media facilitating COVID-19 pandemic healthcare protocols. The study deployed desktop research methodology to address the research objective. Findings: Through the study, the research established that social media assist people to understand different protocols to protect themselves, keep social or physical distance, stay at home and many more. Originality/Value: The role of social media in society is no longer new, research on the impact in observing COVID-19 pandemic protocols is missing in the literature. Social media provides a decentralized platform for bidirectional communication, information sharing, and the flow of content from different sources. The platforms allow users (individuals) and organizations to generate content and distribute it among the audience in real-time during a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that exposed the world’s weak health systems and brought about national lockdowns in different parts of the world. The lockdown measures saw an increased dependence and application of social media platforms to distribute information, communication and content among users. This article looks at the role of social media platforms in facilitating COVID-19 pandemic protocols across the globe