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EXPERT INSIGHTS

Oct-21-2022

The role of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic

Jackson Kushner

During the height of COVID-19, people around the world used social media to stay connected — even while physically separated. This made COVID-19 different from previous pandemics. As countries began to quarantine, there were seismic shifts in communities and across business, which were documented and influenced by social media.

Here we look at social media’s role throughout the COVID-19 quarantine, and which trends we think continue to permeate today.

The importance of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, and why it matters

Can you imagine first learning about a pandemic because a Boy Scout knocked on your door to tell you about it? Well, during the 1918 flu pandemic, that’s how it worked.

The CDC estimates the 1918 flu pandemic infected a third of the world’s population and killed an estimated fifty million people globally. A public health report on Minneapolis’ response to the 1918 flu shows that critical information regarding the virus was primarily shared via postal workers, Boy Scouts, and teachers; very different to how information is shared today.

Now, not only do we have access to news sources at our fingertips, but the speed at which we consume information means we have immediate access to livesaving social and medical information.

More people logged on to social media during the pandemic than ever before. A study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that 70% of respondents (Spanish adults) reported their social media use increased during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, and 87% reported increases during the second wave in 2021.

Even before the pandemic, businesses and governments used social media to share information. The severity of COVID-19, the confusion around the safest protocols, and the mandated COVID-19 quarantines all underscored the need for an even more strategic approach to social media usage.

For example, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses used social media to better support employees and customers like never before, and governments leveraged it to quickly share the latest news and information across platforms.

The pandemic in many ways sped up the adoption of digital channels for people, businesses, and governments alike and permanently shifted how we move in the world. These are the four most important social media takeaways from the pandemic.

1. Social media can provide both information and misinformation

The speed with which information could be spread was one of the biggest benefits of social media during COVID-19 — and also one of its biggest drawbacks. On the positive side, governments, healthcare agencies, and even brands used social media to provide people with a better understanding of events in real-time. But it was also usedto spread falsehoods, including miracle preventative measures, false claims about martial law, conspiracy theories, masks, and more. The spread of helpful health information was prominent, but so was the spread of misinformation.

Finding trusted sources of information duringCOVID-19 could sometimes be challenging — especially on social media. With so much incertainty, people grappled for as much information as possible and thus became more susceptible to false and sometimes hazardous claims, which they shared with to others. According to a PEW Research Center report , about half of Americans said they’d seen falsenews about COVID-19.

Distinguishing between trustworthy vs. untrustworthy sources on social media is crucial

A comprehensive WHO study on how people sought out and responded to fake news found a majority of respondents (59%) across the globe were often highly aware of untrustworthy sources. If they encountered a source that they knew to be inaccurate, 35% said they ignored it and 25% said they reported it, and 8.6% said they unfollowed the poster. In terms of positioning your brand as being reliable and worthy of an individual’s attention, none of these responses to inaccurate information promotes good outcomes.

As a business, it’s your responsibility to ensure the information you decide to share is fact-checked and accurate. On social media, be cautious to avoid alarmist or absolute language in an effort to provide help instead of instill fear. It is more important now than ever before that businesses pay attention to what they share, and stick to facts.

2. Social media can influence public response to outbreaks

Here are a few of the most distinct ways social media influenced the public at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — especially when lockdowns started in March 2020.

Social distancing and home quarantine provide opportunities for digital connection

Until COVID-19, many of us hadn’t even heard of “social distancing.” Soon after the world went into lockdown, social media users called for social distancing and encouraged people to stay strong during mandated quarantines.

One of the benefits of social media during the first wave of the pandemic was it enabled helpful information to be easily shared with a wide audience.

Meanwhile, many organizations even came up with creative ways to continue engaging with people via social media. For example the Getty Museum asked people to recreate works of art using items found in their homes and post them to their social accounts.

We challenge you to recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home. 🥇 Choose your favorite artwork 🥈 Find three things lying around your house⠀ 🥉 Recreate the artwork with those items And share with us. pic.twitter.com/9BNq35HY2V — Getty is Celebrating 25 Years (@GettyMuseum) March 25, 2020

“Quarantine culture” became a trend as society went from dealing with the lockdown to embracing it — changing the ways brands interacted with consumers .

Social media both promotes and discourages pandemic-related behaviors

At the start of the pandemic, many people panic-purchased things like household goods, sanitization products, and food in fear that necessities would become scarce— much like you would see with a natural disaster.

On social media, we saw panic buying discussed in two distinct ways: (1) people posting about their own panic buying, showing images of carts filled with toilet paper, water bottles, and frozen meals; and (2) people posting pictures of empty shelves or other people’s carts as a way to shame supposed panic buyers.

During this time, it was key for businesses to ease consumer fears that led to panic buying. With social media, businesses could quickly update customers and clients with information on supply chain and restocks. Businesses also have authority to speak on how customers can obtain products responsibly and sustainably — making the business-to-consumer connection stronger. 

3. Social media provides a platform for socially responsible product marketing and branding

The COVID-19 outbreak was a defining moment for many brands in how they chose to market their products. Some took advantage of people’s fear during the pandemic by selling snake oil-type products (think essential oils claiming to provide immunity), while others took the opportunity to do right by their customers and the community.

Social media highlights product needs and opportunities brought on by new circumstances

As the pandemic ramped up, we saw businesses pay extra attention to emerging trends, such as the increased search volume for things like face masks and hand sanitizer.

In fact, many brands responded to the overall increase in demand by pivoting from their normal products to produce these suddenly in-demand goods. Alcohol companies like Anheuser-Busch shifted from brewing beer to making hand sanitizer, Tesla began producing ventilators, and Brooks Brothers went from stitching suits to face masks.

Other examples of pandemic-related marketing that filled a sudden need include stores and restaurants emphasizing curbside pick-up and delivery services and the countless “video-conference” advertisements aimed toward people working at home.

Brands focused on socially responsible product marketing

Despite the uptick in alarmist-focused media spend, many businesses provided powerful and empathetic responses to COVID-19. Brands recognized their main responsibility was to provide for the safety and well-being of their employees and customers.

In response to a tweet sent by a librarian in Dubai , Audible made a wide selection of titles free for kids and teens for the duration of the pandemic, helping them to fill hours spent at home, unmoored from the usual schedules.

Dial spread awareness about the proper handwashing technique and Reebok offered to create customized home workouts for consumers.

4. Social media can bring positivity during a scary time

No platform is perfect. While we saw misinformation and fear on social media, there was also an abundance of lifesaving information, connection, and global unity. Social media let us share experiences with family and friends to combat isolation while reminding us we’re all in this together.

Here are a few of the ways that social media made positive impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Fundraisers were organized and distributed on social to help raise money for those in need

COVID-19 put many — especially the elderly, those with disabilities, working parents who lost childcare, and those who lost their jobs — in challenging situations. During the pandemic, communities rallied by sharing fundraisers with large audiences on social media.

On an individual level, the role social media played during the quarantine period helped people offer support in any way they could, such as picking up groceries for individuals who were unable to leave home. The importance of social media during lockdown for keeping people connected shouldn’t be underestimated.

Many local businesses used social media to spread the word about how local communities could support them during the pandemic, and corporations used it to fundraise and spread information about assistance initiatives.

Social media after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 is the first pandemic with social media. We’re just beginning to understand social media’s role in how people experience and handle outbreaks of this scale. In the years to come, more studies will show us exactly how social media influences the ways the public and businesses alike respond to such an unprecedented global event, and how those responses on a public platform impact individuals, corporations, and governments.

If one thing is for sure, it’s that the pandemic has forever changed the ways in which brands interact with consumers — and social media is at the forefront of that shift. Social media usage during the pandemic shaped us, our businesses, and our government. In our twenty years of experience improving CX, Khoros has never seen so many businesses have to shift and adjust to so much so quickly.

Manage your social media during the pandemic and beyond with Khoros

Khoros is proud to have helped our clients throughout COVID-19. We also encourage you to check out our COVID-19 resource page and COVID-19 Marketing webinar , or any of the following resources we created for marketing and social media during COVID-19:

Guide to marketing during a pandemic

Re-engaging your customers after a pandemic

Contact center challenges during COVID-19

Driving customer engagement from home

COVID-19 customer engagement tip sheet

Need help managing your social media? Khoros is here for you through the good times and the bad. We help our clients reduce time spent managing social media and more with unified social listening , planning, and publishing. Our social media management tools help you scale, elevate, protect, and measure your social content, while our digital customer service tools for social media and review platforms allow you to manage service inquiries across channels.

Request a demo today and learn how Khoros can help you create customers for life!

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What is the Role of Social Media During the COVID-19 Crisis?

Today, social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, have become primary sources of information. They are also vehicles for fake news and disinformation. During a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, how should social media be mastered and employed in a responsible way? HEC Paris Associate Professor of Marketing, Kristine de Valck, has been studying the role of social networks in the marketplace since 1999. She explains.

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How do companies and individuals use social media during such crisis.

Broadly, there are two opposing logics. Companies can use social media for commercial purposes or for communal purposes. In other words, companies use social media to brand, sell, market their business (which is close to traditional marketing efforts using mass-media) versus using social media to connect with and co-create with customers and – more importantly – to provide a platform to customers to bond together. You can see this as the distinction between using social media to talk to your customers versus using social media to talk with your customers and have them talk to each other through your brand. 

You can see this as the distinction between using social media to talk to your customers versus using social media to talk with your customers and have them talk to each other through your brand. 

For individuals, the same axe translates into using social media to self-present – that can turn into the very narcissistic self-exposure that we sometimes see on social media versus using social media to connect with friends, family and likeminded others for socialization and emotional support. 

What particular strengths of social media are highlighted during such difficult times?

For me, this crisis highlights the particular strengths of social media in how they can be used for the second type of purpose; that is community and emotional support. 

Just like we have seen with other crises, such as the earthquake and following tsunami that caused the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, the terrorists attacks in Paris and elsewhere in Europe over the past years, we see today that people all over the world reach out to each other – close by and far away – through social media to make sense of what is happening. 

Just like we have seen with other crises, people all over the world reach out to each other through social media to make sense of what is happening. 

I am thinking of the many funny videos about how people creatively deal with the lockdown, of the neighborhood Facebook groups that organize entertainment and practical support to help neighbors who need assistance with grocery shopping or childcare, and the quick rise of apps and functionalities that allow for live chat and video sessions with multiple people.  This is social media in its core and at its best.

People turn to social media not only for support and entertainment, but also use it as a source of information… and fake news.

This is where we need to warn for the dark side of social media and its role in spreading fake news. Platforms have been slow in acknowledging their responsibility in helping platform users distinguish fake news from facts, but they are taking steps in the right direction. Instagram, for example, announced to only include COVID-19 related posts and stories in their recommendation section that are published by official health organizations. In general, my advice is to crosscheck information that you get through social media with at least two other information sources such as government websites and high-quality news outlets. In addition, we also all have a role to play by not further spreading rumors through our social media accounts. 

How should marketers adopt their social media strategies in this extraordinary time? 

It is a tricky question. Typically, I teach my students that marketers should relate their social media contributions to the real-time context. Indeed, at the start of the crisis I kept receiving long-before planned brand posts that did not refer at all to the situation, and thus, seemed misplaced. At the same time, trying to leverage a sanitary crisis for branding purposes in your social media posts can quickly be perceived as distasteful. 

The best examples I have seen come from companies that offer free resources to their customers to face the crisis. For example, many academic publishers have made online content available for free to support teachers and students worldwide with distance learning. Closer to home, the Pilates teacher at HEC Paris has started a YouTube channel where he posts videos on how we can keep fit while confined at home. 

Instead of self-glorifying social media brand posts, brands will be forced to embrace the communal logic of social media during the COVID-19 crisis.

Instead of self-glorifying social media brand posts, brands will be forced to embrace the communal logic of social media during the COVID-19 crisis. More than ever, social media posts should be user-centric and not producer-centric. Brands that will be able to deliver messages and engage in conversations that are considered valuable because they provide helpful information, relevant advice or that simply make you laugh will come out of the crisis stronger.   

Stay safe and keep sharing!

Kristine de Valck's research and teaching focus on how the Internet in general and social media in particular have changed consumer behavior...

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Social Media Use and Mental Health during the COVID‐19 Pandemic: Moderator Role of Disaster Stressor and Mediator Role of Negative Affect

1 Peking University, Beijing China

Guangyu Zhou

Informed by the differential susceptibility to media effects model (DSMM), the current study aims to investigate associations of COVID‐19‐related social media use with mental health outcomes and to uncover potential mechanisms underlying the links.

A sample of 512 (62.5% women; M age  = 22.12 years, SD  = 2.47) Chinese college students participated in this study from 24 March to 1 April 2020 via online questionnaire. They completed measures of social media use, the COVID‐19 stressor, negative affect, secondary traumatic stress (STS), depression, and anxiety as well as covariates.

As expected, results from regression analyses indicated that a higher level of social media use was associated with worse mental health. More exposure to disaster news via social media was associated with greater depression for participants with high (but not low) levels of the disaster stressor. Moreover, path analysis showed negative affect mediated the relationship of social media use and mental health.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that the disaster stressor may be a risk factor that amplifies the deleterious impact of social media use on depression. In addition, excessive exposure to disaster on social media may trigger negative affect, which may in turn contribute to mental health problems. Future interventions to improve mental health should consider elements of both disaster stressor and negative affect.

INTRODUCTION

A newly emerging coronavirus, SARS‐CoV‐2 (previously known as 2019‐nCoV) which can cause coronavirus disease (COVID‐19), a severe respiratory illness like SARS and MERS, was first reported in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) initially declared the COVID‐19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and then characterised it as a pandemic. In response to the pandemic, rigorous policies to restrict public movement and large gatherings have been implemented in China, such as extending the Lunar New Year holiday, postponing the spring semester for universities, primary and middle schools and kindergartens (“China Extends Spring Festival Holiday”, 2020 ). Due to the strict physical distancing measures, people are heavily reliant on media, especially social media (e.g. Weibo and WeChat), to learn the latest news about the pandemic and to maintain connectivity (Limaye et al., 2020 ).

Disaster Media Exposure and Mental Health

Despite the importance of media in spreading urgent information during times of collective trauma events, numerous studies have suggested that disaster media exposure may evoke poor mental health outcomes. For example, early 9/11‐ and Iraq War‐related television exposure was prospectively associated with increases in posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms (Silver et al., 2013 ). Following the Boston Marathon bombings, six or more daily hours of bombing‐related media exposure was associated with higher acute stress symptoms in individuals outside the directly affected community (Holman, Garfin, & Silver, 2014 ). Among adolescents who did not experience the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, those who were frequently exposed to distressing media images reported a higher risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 6 months later (Yeung et al., 2018 ). Although the negative impacts of disaster media exposure on a range of psychological outcomes have been demonstrated (see the review by Pfefferbaum et al., 2014 ), secondary traumatic stress (STS) was not adequately addressed (Ben‐Zur, Gil, & Shamshins, 2012 ; Blanchard et al., 2004 ). STS refers to PTSD‐like symptoms, such as arousal, avoidant behaviors, and intrusive imagery, as a consequence of being indirectly exposed to traumatic events (Branson, 2019 ; Ludick & Figley, 2017 ). Given that most people are not infected with SARS‐CoV‐2, it is critical to consider whether media exposure is associated with STS among the general population. Indeed, Li et al. ( 2020 ) found that the general public reported even higher levels of vicarious traumatisation than front‐line nurses fighting COVID‐19.

Compared with traditional media, social media has played a multitude of positive roles in information exchange during the COVID‐19 crisis, including disseminating health‐related recommendations, enabling connectivity and psychological first aid (Merchant & Lurie, 2020 ), showing public attitudes, experience, and perception of the disease as well as sentiment to the government (Zhu, Fu, Grépin, Liang, & Fung, 2020 ). On the other hand, social media has also fueled the rapid spread of misinformation and rumors, which can create a sense of panic and confusion among the public (Garfin, Silver, & Holman, 2020 ). However, there has been a dearth of studies focused specifically on social media exposure. Thus, it is still unknown whether and how using social media to access COVID‐19 is associated with mental health. In addition, it is necessary to examine the association in young adults, considering that they are more frequent users of social media (China Internet Network Information Center, 2013 ) and are prone to use social media sources to access disaster‐related messages (Piotrowski, 2015 ).

Theoretical Backdrop

The Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM; Valkenburg & Peter, 2013 ) is a well‐established integrative model that addresses relationships between media use and health outcomes. According to the DSMM, media usage can influence users’ cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral outcomes. Certain individual or social variables moderate the direction or strength of media exposure effects. A group of variables such as current and prior traumatic stress, as well as prior health status, may serve as potential moderators (Houston, Spialek, & First, 2018 ). Indeed, the relationship between media exposure and worry about the Ebola pandemic was augmented in individuals who reported a higher level of stressful responses to a prior bomb attack (Thompson, Garfin, Holman, & Silver, 2017 ). In another study, respondents who had previous mental health diagnoses were sensitised to media coverage of disaster events and reported more distress (Thompson, Jones, Holman, & Silver, 2019 ). To date, however, the conditional effects, such as the moderating role of COVID‐19 stress between social media use and mental health, have not been examined in the current pandemic.

Three response states (i.e. cognitive, emotional, and excitative states) have been proposed as mediator mechanisms between media use and health outcomes in the DSMM. Only two studies explicitly examined the mediating process, with acute stress and fear as mediators, respectively (Holman, Garfin, Lubens, & Silver, 2019 ; Silver et al., 2013 ). Using longitudinal designs, Silver et al. ( 2013 ) concluded that acute stress did not mediate the association between media exposure and physical health, whereas Holman et al. ( 2019 ) found that fear of future terrorism significantly mediated the association between media usage and functional impairment. Although underexplored, there has been some evidence suggesting that negative affect might mediate the disaster media effects. For example, watching television news after the 9/11 terrorist attack was related to a range of negative emotions, such as fear, anger, and frustration (Cho et al., 2003 ). Negative affect, in turn, was often a predisposition to mood disorders (e.g. depression; Mor et al., 2010 ) and anxiety‐related disorders (e.g. PTSD; Weems et al., 2007 ) in the context of disaster.

The Present Study

The present study aims to investigate whether and how social media exposure to COVID‐19 was associated with various mental health outcomes in a sample of Chinese college students. The relationships among social media use, the COVID‐19 stressor, negative affect, and mental health, such as STS, depression, and anxiety, were examined. Drawing on the logic of the DSMM and empirical findings on traditional media use, we formulated the following hypotheses:

The more time participants spend on social media accessing content related to COVID‐19, the more STS, depression, and anxiety they experience, after controlling for both traditional and internet media usage.

More COVID‐19 stressors are associated with greater STS, depression, and anxiety, after controlling for key covariates (e.g. prior collective trauma exposure, health history).

The COVID‐19 stressor moderates the relationship between social media use and mental health. Participants with a higher level of COVID‐19 stressor report more mental health problems with cumulative daily use of social media, while the association of social media exposure and mental health is attenuated among those with a lower level of COVID‐19 stressor.

Negative affect mediates the relationship between social media use and mental health. Specifically, social media use positively correlates with negative affect, which in turn, is positively associated with STS, depression, and anxiety.

Procedure and Participants

The present study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Peking University. To reach college students, the first author posted a recruitment message containing an introduction to the study on a popular social media network in China. During the data collection period, from 24 March to 1 April 2020, the recruitment advertisement was shared and reposted hundreds of times. Viewers who were interested in the study could scan a quick response code directing them to a consent form. Once giving his or herconsents, the potential participant was invited to fill in an online survey via www.sojump.com . It takes about 10 minutes to complete the survey.

There were 705 university students who completed the questionnaire. Following the suggestions of Curran ( 2016 ), the study adopted various data screening methods to ensure the quality of online data, including response time restriction (ranged from 300s to 2000s, excluded 62 participants), one bogus item (i.e. “I’ve never used a mobile phone in my life”, excluded 67 participants), two instructed items (e.g. “Please indicate option [agree] for this question”, excluded 60 participants), and self‐report diligence at the end of the survey (i.e. “In your honest opinion, should we use your data in our analyses?”, excluded four participants). The final sample comprised 512 Chinese college students (62.5% women; M age  = 22.12 years, range = 18–30 years; for details see Table  1 ).

Characteristics and Responses of Participants ( N  = 512)

COVID‐19 related media use, risk factors (i.e. the COVID‐19 stressor, prior collective trauma exposure, and health history), and psychological outcomes (i.e. negative affect, STS, depression and anxiety) were assessed as well as demographics.

Social Media Use

Social media use was adapted from the assessment tool developed by Lin et al. ( 2016 ). Participants were required to recall the average number of total hours per day they had spent on social media usage during the period of severe epidemic (20 January–17 February 2020, characterised by a sharp increase in accumulated confirmed cases from 258 to 70,635). Specifically, they were asked to estimate the time spent accessing COVID‐19‐related information through seven widely used social media platforms (i.e. Weibo, Wechat, QQ, Zhihu, Douban, Douyin, and Kuaishou) in China. Responses could range from 0 to 12 hours for each platform. Social media use was computed by summing up the total daily hours, with higher hours indicating more social media use.

COVID‐19 Stressor

Adapted from the measurement of SARS‐related stressors (Main et al., 2011 ), a checklist tool with 10 items was used to assess COVID‐19 stressors. Participants were asked whether they experienced the lockdown of Wuhan, confirmed or suspected infection, experienced the death of loved ones, witnessed people dying from the infection, worked with infectious patients, volunteered in epidemic prevention and control, and lacked necessities, such as food, face masks, disinfectants, and medical care. Responses were “yes” (coded as 1) or “no” (coded as 0) to each item. The scores of all items were summed to reflect indexes of disaster stressor during the pandemic. The scores ranged from 0 to 10, with a higher score indicating a higher level of disaster stressor.

Negative Affect

The 10‐item self‐reported Negative Affect (NA) scale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988 ) was used to measure participants’ negative mood in the past two weeks (e.g. “Hostile”, “Afraid”) with 5‐point Likert‐type graded responses (1 = not at all, 5 = very strongly). Total scores were calculated for analyses, with higher scores indicating more negative affect experienced (Cronbach’s α = .91).

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS)

STS was measured using the 17‐item Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale for Social Media Users (STSS‐SM), which was originally developed by Bride, Robinson, Yegidis, and Figley ( 2004 ) and further adapted by Megan ( 2019 ) in a sample of social media users. The scale assessed participants’ traumatic symptoms such as avoidance, intrusion, and arousal through their experiences on social media with traumatised individuals or traumatic events, using 5‐point Likert‐type scales (1 = never and 5 = very often). For example, “Reminders of things I’ve seen on social media upset me”. Total scores were calculated to indicate STS level (Cronbach’s α = .93).

The nine‐item Patient Health Questionnaire depression module (PHQ‐9; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001 ) was used to measure depressive symptoms in 4‐point Likert‐type graded responses (1 = not at all and 4 = nearly every day). For example, “Little interest or pleasure in doing things”. Total scores were calculated to indicate the level of depression (Cronbach’s α = .89).

The seven‐item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD‐7; Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, & Löwe, 2006 ) was used to assess anxiety symptoms in 4‐point Likert‐type graded responses (1 = not at all, 4 = nearly every day). For example, “Not being able to stop or control worrying”. Total scores were calculated to indicate the level of anxiety (Cronbach’s α = .91).

Traditional and online media use measured the time spent accessing COVID‐19‐related information through three types of traditional media (i.e. television, radio, newspapers) and online media such as Jinri Toutiao (today's headlines). Prior collective trauma exposure evaluated (a) whether participants or their close others were seriously injured, (b) whether participants witnessed others dying in the 2003 SARS epidemic or the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Participants who gave at least one “yes” response were coded as 1, otherwise coded as 0. Health history was assessed with two items inquiring whether participants had a cold during the COVID‐19 pandemic or had a history of mental disorder. Participants who answered at least one “yes” response were coded as 1, otherwise coded as 0. Demographics including age, gender, ethnicity, education attainment, and average monthly household income were assessed.

Statistical Analysis

First, social media use, traditional media use, and online media use were transformed with the square‐root for normality. Descriptive statistics and partial correlations of study variables were calculated while controlling for demographics. Given significant correlations of prior collective trauma exposure, health history, traditional and online media use with mental health, those variables were regarded as covariates in the following analyses. Harman’s one‐factor test (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986 ) was used to detect the possibility of common method bias (CMB). All variables of interest were entered into an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the cumulative variance explained by the first unrotated factor was less than 50 percent (i.e. 31.9%), indicating no serious CMB.

Second, to examine the moderating role of the disaster stressor in the relationship of social media use and mental health, mental health outcomes (i.e. STS, depression, and anxiety) were regressed on social media use, the COVID‐19 stressor, and their interaction. Finally, to test the mediating role of negative affect, a path analysis was conducted with social media use, the COVID‐19 stressor and the interaction term as predictors, negative affect as the mediator, and mental health as outcomes.

Data analyses were performed in SPSS 25 and Mplus 7.4. Multiple model fit criteria were used with RMSEA values lower than 0.08, CFI and TLI values close to 0.90 or higher indicating acceptability (Muthén & Muthén, 2012 ). Standardised, unstandardised, and 95% confidence intervals of path coefficients were estimated with 5,000 bootstraps.

Preliminary Analyses

Table  2 displays descriptive statistics and correlations among the study variables. The skewness and kurtosis of all variables were between −2 and +2, which demonstrated acceptable univariate normality (Mallery & George, 2003 ). Among the hypothetical risk factors, the COVID‐19 stressor was positively related to negative affect ( r  = 0.12), STS ( r  = 0.25), depression ( r  = 0.19), and anxiety ( r  = 0.20). Health history correlated positively with negative affect ( r  = 0.16), STS ( r  = 0.21), and anxiety ( r  = 0.10), while prior trauma had no significant correlation with mental health. Among COVID‐19‐related media use, social media use was positively related to negative affect ( r  = 0.12), STS ( r  = 0.14), depression ( r  = 0.10), and anxiety ( r  = 0.10). Online media use positively correlated with STS ( r  = 0.10), while traditional media use had no significant correlations with psychological outcomes.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Study Variables ( N  = 512)

STS = secondary traumatic stress. All analyses controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, education attainment, and monthly average household income. Social media use, traditional media use, and online media use are square‐root transformed for normality, and the skewness and kurtosis after transformation are reported. The skewness and kurtosis of prior trauma and health history were not reported since normality testing is not necessary for binary variables.

Regression Analyses

Multiple linear regression results showed that associations of social media use with STS (β = 0.18, p  < .001), depression (β = 0.11, p  = .019), and anxiety (β = 0.12, p  = .014) were significant, suggesting that participants who spent more time on social media reported more mental health problems. The results confirmed Hypothesis 1. Supporting Hypothesis 2, the associations of the COVID‐19 stressor and STS (β = 0.20, p  < .001), depression (β = 0.18, p  < .001), and anxiety (β = 0.18, p  < .001) were also significant, such that more exposure to COVID‐19 was associated with more mental health problems.

More importantly, the interaction of social media use and the COVID‐19 stressor was significantly associated with depression (β = 0.09, p  = .043). However, the associations between the interaction and STS (β = 0.06, p  = .139) and anxiety (β = 0.06, p  = .166) were not significant. Simple slope analysis was conducted to probe the significant interaction (Aiken & West, 1991 ). As Figure  1 illustrates, at a high level of the COVID‐19 stressor (1 SD above the mean), participants with a greater amount of social media use reported a significantly higher level of depression ( b  = 1.05, SE  = 0.35, 95% CI [0.36, 1.74]; p  = .003). By contrast, at a low level of COVID‐19 stressor (1 SD below the mean), social media use was unrelated to depression ( b  = 0.15, SE  = 0.33, 95% CI [−0.48, 0.79]; p  = .635). These results partially confirmed Hypothesis 3.

Interaction effects of social media use and the COVID‐19 stressor on depression. Note : Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.

Path Analyses

To further test the mediating role of negative affect between social media use and mental health (i.e. Hypothesis 4), a path analysis was conducted (see Figure  2 ), which provided an acceptable fit to the data (CFI = 0.991; TFI = 0.922; RMSEA = 0.077, 90% CI [0.041, 0.118]; χ 2 (4) = 16.242). Table  3 displays direct, indirect, and total effects. In general, the model confirmed Hypothesis 4 indicating that social media use was indirectly associated with higher levels of STS ( b  = 0.98, 95% CI [0.32, 1.64]), depression ( b  = 0.42, 95% CI [0.13, 0.70]), and anxiety ( b  = 0.41, 95% CI [0.13, 0.68]) through negative affect. Moreover, the model confirmed the results that the joint influence of social media use and the COVID‐19 stressor on depression was significant.

Path analysis examining the mediating role of negative affect and the interaction between social media use and the COVID‐19 stressor on psychological outcomes simultaneously ( N  = 512). Note : Covariates are prior trauma, health history, traditional and online media use. Nonsignificant paths from covariates to dependent variables are omitted for visual clarity. The values showed are standardised path coefficients. Black solid lines refer to significant paths (bold lines/*** p  < .001; semi‐bold lines/** p  < .01; thin lines/* p  < .05) and gray dashed lines refer to nonsignificant paths ( p  > .05). Percentages indicate the explained variance of mediator and each dependent variable in the model.

Direct, Indirect, and Total Effects from Social Media Use and COVID‐19 Stressor to Psychological Outcomes

STS = secondary traumatic stress.

The mental health status of the public following the outbreak of COVID‐19 is a major issue of concern (Bao, Sun, Meng, Shi, & Lu, 2020 ). Excessive social media exposure to this public health crisis might lead to heightened acute stress and long‐term psychological distress (Garfin et al., 2020 ). Our main goal in the present study was to examine the relationships between social media exposure and psychological outcomes during the pandemic. Moreover, we aimed to examine the hypothesised moderator (i.e. the COVID‐19 stressor) and mediator (i.e. negative affect) based on the DSMM theory.

Unique Role of Social Media Use in Mental Health

Results showed that disaster‐related social media consumption was significantly associated with negative mental health (i.e. STS, depression, and anxiety). The relationship of media exposure and mental health has been evidenced during collective trauma events, such as Ebola (Thompson et al., 2017 ), the Sichuan earthquake (Yeung et al., 2018 ), and several terrorist attacks (Holman et al., 2014 ; Silver et al., 2013 ; Thompson et al., 2019 ). More importantly, this study has complemented the existing literature by differentiating media types (i.e. traditional, online vs. social media). Interestingly, our findings suggest that social media use particularly contributed to STS, depression, and anxiety while other media usages were unrelated to mental health. This pattern is in line with previous findings indicating that frequently social media usage was positively associated with the high odds of anxiety, depression (Gao et al., 2020 ), and PTS (Goodwin, Palgi, Hamama‐Raz, & Ben‐Ezra, 2013 ).

The unique role of social media use in mental health might be explained from the characteristics of social media. During the pandemic, social media has become one of the most important channels to disseminate information with an absolute superiority in speed, reach, and penetration (Merchant & Lurie, 2020 ). Compared with their use of traditional media, young adults are more likely to use social media sources to attend to disaster‐related coverage (Jones, Garfin, Holman, & Silver, 2016 ). Massive information on social media with various forms (e.g. text, picture, video and live streaming) enables people to stay informed on the latest policies and recommendations regarding COVID‐19 prevention, and also to get connected with those who have been directly exposed to the disaster (e.g. infected patients, front‐line medical staff; Garfin et al., 2020 ). Meanwhile, social media has been used to create and share information with personal interpretations, which may lead to the transmission of rumors, conspiracies, or misinformation (Wang, McKee, Torbica, & Stuckler, 2019 ). Taken together, the indispensability and complexity of social media might amplify the negative psychological consequences of disaster exposure while at the same time covering the effects of traditional media.

Moderator Role of the COVID‐19 Stressor

In addition to media exposure, disaster‐related stressors have also been considered one of the key predictors of mental health (Paul et al., 2014 ). The COVID‐19 stressor was operationalised as a common stressor that people experienced amid the pandemic in the current study. A higher level of disaster stressor was associated with worse mental health outcomes. The result is consistent with prior studies indicating that individuals who experienced more disaster‐related stressors were at higher risk of DSM‐IV anxiety‐mood disorders (Galea et al., 2007 ). In addition, social media use was positively related to depression only at a high (but not low) level of the COVID‐19 stressor. It suggests that people who experienced a higher level of the stressor had greater vulnerability to depression. It should be noted, however, that the contribution of the interaction term is relatively small.

Individuals who suffered from collective trauma experienced higher levels of physiological arousal and fear, many of whom continued to worry about themselves and their families (Pfefferbaum et al., 1999 ). It is likely that excessive exposure to social media coverage maintained their heightened reactivity to traumatic events which may in turn, predispose them to develop post‐disaster stress. However, it is somewhat surprising that the interaction of social media use and the COVID‐19 stressor was only significantly associated with depression, but not STS or anxiety. A possible explanation might be that people who experienced the COVID‐19 stressor are faced with real problems such as lacking necessities and experiencing bereavement. Being immersed in social media may not solve the problems but reinforce their feelings of sadness and helplessness. In this sense, depression might be a more common manifestation of distress than other psychological symptoms.

Mediating Role of Negative Affect

Another main finding is that negative affect mediated the relationship between social media use and mental health (i.e. STS, depression, and anxiety). This finding is not only consistent with the theoretical mechanistic pathways proposed by the DSMM (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013 ), but is also in line with prior research indicating fear as a mediator from exposure to bloody images of a bombing event to future functioning impairment (Holman et al., 2019 ). It suggests that negative emotional states explain the relationship between exposure to COVID‐19 information on social media and negative mental health outcomes.

Exposure to disaster content on social media may be associated with mental health through differential plausible avenues. As stated by Bayer and his colleagues (Bayer, Triệu, & Ellison, 2020 ), one of the elements of social media is stream (or feeds), which is the aggregated flows of content seen on home pages of social media platforms (e.g. “Hot search” on Weibo; “Moments” on WeChat). The stream can help users gain knowledge of heated issues as well as others’ activities, thoughts, and stories. In the pandemic context, people have a strong desire to comprehend the consequences of the disaster and stream appears to fulfill this desire by leading users to authentic and personal information (e.g. short videos, blogs documenting COVID‐19) shared by those directly exposed to COVID‐19. This could open doors for emotion contagion because viewers may observe and perceive negative emotions expressed through social media (Kramer, Guillory, & Hancock, 2014 ). For example, respondents with social media exposure described negative emotions such as sadness, grief, compassion, shock, and numbness in a disaster situation (Neubaum, Rösner, Rosenthal‐von der Pütten, & Krämer, 2014 ). Such empathic responses combined with prolonged exposure to suffering may contribute to the onset of STS (Ludick & Figley, 2017 ). It is also possible that repeated exposure to heartbreaking news with respect to COVID‐19 puts people at risk of depression due to a process of grief rumination (Lenferink, Eisma, de Keijser, & Boelen, 2017 ). Unlike traditional media on which information is strictly regulated to ensure credibility, social media provides a public space where users can communicate unfiltered information, thus giving rise to rumors (Jones, Thompson, Dunkel Schetter, & Silver, 2017 ). Coronavirus rumors on social media can greatly exacerbate negative emotions (e.g. panic, fear, and distress), which may in turn induce anxiety symptoms (Dong & Zheng, 2020 ).

Possible Alternative Explanations for the Findings

Since the findings are largely based on cross‐sectional data, the directionality of the associations among social media use, negative affect, and mental health is still not clear. It is possible that individuals living with mental health conditions tend to consume more COVID‐19‐related information on social media. For example, individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) did spend more daily hours using the computer compared to healthy controls (de Wit, van Straten, Lamers, Cuijpers, & Penninx, 2011 ), which may put them at increased risk of news coverage of collective trauma. Another study found that stress responses to past traumatic events predicted increased consumption of media following later collective tragedies (Thompson et al., 2019 ). Such specific media usage patterns may lead to subsequent post‐disaster distress over time, thereby fueling a vicious cycle. This process also corresponds with what the DSMM proposed as transactional effects that media exposure and health outcomes operate in a feedback loop.

Another possible explanation arises from uncertainty management theory which states that seeking disaster‐related information from media is a way of mitigating uncertainty (Lachlan, Spence, & Seeger, 2009 ). In the case of the September 11 attack, for example, those who experienced a range of negative emotions such as anger, grief, and powerlessness were motivated to learn about the disaster (Boyle et al., 2004 ). In the context of COVID‐19, people tend to perceive the coronavirus as threatening and present feelings of fear and worry. Consequently, these negative emotions may lead to increased use of social media to seek assurance, but may further heighten the risk for mental health disorders.

Implications

Regardless of the direction of association between social media use and mental health, our findings have important implications. From a theoretical perspective, our findings have enriched the DSMM model by identifying negative affect as one mediator as well as the COVID‐19 stressor as one moderator. The emotional pathway from social media use to mental health highlights the importance of managing negative emotions such as fear, anger, and sadness when using social media to access information. It is also worth noticing that people experiencing a higher level of the COVID‐19 stressor exhibited vulnerability to depression. Together with other dispositional factors such as prior collective trauma and pre‐existing mental health conditions, disaster‐related stressors serve as a significant moderator of the disaster media effect. Our findings also shed light on strategies of trauma prevention and intervention. It is critical for policymakers, public health agencies, parents, psychologists, and healthcare staff to remain sensitive to the potential negative consequences of ubiquitous social media exposure. The general public, especially those who have been directly or indirectly traumatised by COVID‐19, could be advised to avoid excessive social media use and learn effective emotion regulation strategies (e.g. reappraisal) to reduce negative emotions induced by news coverage.

Limitations

There are several limitations to the current study. Participants were fully recruited via social media and those who did not use any type of social media may not be included in the study, posing a potential threat to representativeness of the sample. Time on social media to access COVID‐19 information in a specified period was recalled, which was prone to recall bias. To increase memory accuracy, a brief timeline with major events was provided to remind participants of the time period. We used self‐report measures of social media use, which could be improved by ongoing media diaries or objective data accessed from media platforms. Face‐to‐face clinical interviews rather than self‐report measures of psychological symptoms could also be an alternative.

The time lag between the measurement of social media use and negative affect is not short enough to assess the immediate responses to disaster messages, given that emotional response was characterised as a state‐like variable in the DSMM (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013 ). It may be valuable for future studies to use intensive longitudinal measures (e.g. daily diaries or experience sampling) to capture the concurrent variations of emotions and social media use patterns on a daily level (Choi & Toma, 2014 ; Stieger & Lewetz, 2018 ). Furthermore, the current study measured negative affect as a general emotional state, making the concept excessively overlap with mental health outcomes (i.e. depression, anxiety, and STS). Future studies are encouraged to measure specific emotional responses to COVID‐19, such as fear (Ahorsu et al., 2020 ), grief (Kristensen, Dyregrov, Dyregrov, & Heir, 2016 ), and anger (Park, Aldwin, Fenster, & Snyder, 2008 ).

The current study only tested the potential mediating role of emotional states. Other mediators of disaster media effects, such as cognitive appraisal or excitative responses (Houston et al., 2018 ), likely exist and should be explored in future research. The study only measured frequency of social media consumption, and did not attempt to disaggregate for media content (e.g. positive vs. negative information; texts, graphics, or videos) and user types (e.g. active vs. passive use). To further investigate how media exposure influences mental health, more detailed assessments on social media use are needed (Hall et al., 2019 ; Neubaum et al., 2014 ). Although we have controlled for several potential confounds (i.e. prior collective trauma exposure, mental health, and demographics), it is still possible that other unmeasured, individual characteristics (e.g. neuroticism, specific mental health diagnoses) might exist and explain the observed associations. Lastly, it should be acknowledged that the cross‐sectional design limits causal inferences, although a theoretical case for the direction of causality can be made based on previous literature. Longitudinal studies with large time lags are imperative to clarify the psychological processes that may be affected by social media exposure as well as to track mental health symptoms over time following COVID‐19.

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Exploring the effects of social media on mental health during COVID

Fariha hanif, mariley polanco, and fatima warda.

The role of social media in COVID-19

Social media, on an individual basis, is used for keeping in touch with friends and family. This, however, can be expanded to encompass using social media as a networking tool for career options, finding people across the globe with similar interests, and simply as a means to vent their frustrations/emotions. While these applications are still used for similar purposes today, they are most definitely used more frequently as a result of the forced isolation that came about from the pandemic. People who didn’t enjoy using social media and avoided it at all costs as a method of communication have reluctantly given into trying these platforms to stay in touch with their loved ones. Whether it is via the direct messaging features available on various apps or through posting pictures from their daily lives, people try to depict their lives in the best way possible on these virtual platforms. The way social media has been used prior to and during the pandemic has a strong relationship to the idea of the social self. 

Especially with the pandemic, social media has brought light to another layer of healthcare. Various healthcare providers created public accounts on these social media platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, and etc. to provide information/updates about what is going on with the pandemic, social distancing guidelines, and updates about the vaccine. In a peer reviewed article published prior to COVID, the authors explored the various benefits and risks of being an active user on social media. Some of these benefits include increasing interactions with others, having more accessible information, social support, and having the potential to influence many policies related to health (Moorhead et al., 2013). Many of these healthcare providers whose following blew up during the pandemic have even branched out into making social media a side gig, taking monetary compensation for everything that they post, even collaborating with major companies to encourage people to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic. A good example is the user @lifeofadoctor on Tiktok, whose following grew exponentially after making daily/weekly updates on COVID statistics during the pandemic to encourage his followers to stay home. His following grew so much in that brief period of time that he was among one of the first few creators on TikTok to be a recipient of $1 billion creator fund.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJgx4KYe/

However, the increased use of social media during the pandemic wasn’t completely without faults. It impacted the areas of an individual’s social self and the dynamic between various groups. A social psychology concept that can be applied to the use of social media is the self-discrepancy theory. This theory states that individuals compare their “actual” selves to their “ideal” self and if there are any inconsistencies between the two, it causes immense discomfort in the individual. This can specifically apply to how social media is used as it further encourages people to compare their “actual” selves to their “ideal” selves depicted on platforms. While trying to depict their life in the best way possible, people may start to see themselves in two different ways (their “actual” self in real life versus their “ideal” self-depicted in social media) and because of this, a lot of discomfort may arise within individuals as they may feel a strong urge to be their “ideal” self, but it may not be realistic to the type of lifestyle they currently live. A study conducted in 2006 explored the relationship between self-discrepancy in terms of body image and how this affects participation in social comparison. It found that women who had high levels of self-discrepancy were more likely to compare themselves to others from being exposed to the thin-ideal, and they found that these comparisons can result in self-inflicted negative consequences (Bessenoff, 2006).  This effect may be amplified in teenagers who see the “idealized” view of many of their favorite celebrities/peers and start to believe that everyone is portraying their “actual” selves instead of their “idealized” selves, which can be very damaging to their self-esteem. All influencers, at one point or another, can be accused of doing so. It would be hard to find a celebrity that posts the negative events going on in their lives and not showing a glamorized view of what they do on a daily basis.

This can also tie into how social media is used to boost an individual’s self-esteem as many use social media to depict the highlights of their life, completely neglecting to post the negatives. With this close to ideal depiction of one’s self on social media, it can cause many to comment on how great you look and how great your life is, which can directly affect (and boost) someone’s self-esteem. People depict themselves on social media the way they think they are seen by others or the way they want to be seen, which can be very problematic for the younger generation that are frequenting these platforms, giving them unrealistic expectations of what they should look like and how life is. A good example of this is the supermodel Gigi Hadid – she is rarely found depicting the hardships of motherhood, it was only until recently that she even posted pictures of herself being pregnant. Similarly, another influencer on social media who has a particular presence on there is James Charles. He is mainly seen on Instagram wearing glamorous makeup looks and living a lavish lifestyle, but when the paparazzi catches him, he can be seen without makeup and shows that there is much more to him apart from his makeup looks.

Despite the negative effects that social media may have on self-esteem, it can also be used to enhance one’s own self-image. In a study conducted by Gonzalez and Hancock in 2011, they found that, interestingly enough, increasing the exposure to information on your own Facebook profile can enhance self-esteem, especially when an individual selectively-self presents themselves on the internet (Gonzalez and Hancock, 2011).

Another concept of social psychology that can be applied to the use of social media, especially amongst teenagers, is the Common Ingroup Identity Model that was developed by Gaertner and Dovidio. The model suggests that if members of various groups can recategorize themselves as members of a more superior group, the intergroup relations can drastically improve. This can specifically apply to social media in the sense that people all over the world have various attitudes towards other members of other racial and socioeconomic groups and social media can expose people to others who they would not normally interact with, allowing them to find some common/shared identities with members of the outgroup, which would further initiate the formation of other new, more superior groups that are based primarily on shared interests/beliefs. For example, my brother, being stuck at home, ventured out to different social media platforms where he was exposed to people that he typically did not interact with on a daily basis prior to the pandemic, and actually ended up developing a different perspective on racial minorities as he found many individuals who fit into that group that he shared a common identity with.

Interestingly enough, although many thinks that the increase in the use of social media may be temporary and that once the pandemic is over, the new users would stop using these platforms, eMarketer actually predicts the opposite. Using data collected from the Harris Poll, they found that approximately half of the respondents reported using social media more frequently than they ever had before (seen in image below) and made inferences about how these platforms would be used in the future in a world post-pandemic. Those who, during the pandemic, learned how to use all types of video platform services are more likely to continue doing so even when lockdown restrictions are lifted. Additionally, eMarketer predicts that the amount of time we will spend on messaging platforms will also increase by approximately four minutes. Lastly, they note that US adults will probably spend about seven more minutes a day on social media, but they expect this to decline in 2021 once the pandemic is controlled (Samet, 2020).

Overall, while social media may initially seem like a great way to keep in touch with loved ones while maintaining the social distancing rules across the globe, it can also bring about many negative effects and challenges. People may feel more comfortable behind a phone/computer screen and take advantage of this comfort by cyberbullying their peers and influencers. According to a peer-reviewed study done this year exploring the role of social media during COVID, they found that this comfort may also result in individuals exploiting public opinions and committing other hate crimes that they would not have the courage to do otherwise in person. For example, there are many individuals who comment hateful things on many celebrities’/influencers’ social media accounts, but if they saw the celebrity in person, they would pretend to be a fan. Furthermore, many rely on the Internet for the latest news and updates in the world and social media has started to evolve into sharing information about important current events, but many users on social media can “troll” on the platform by disseminating misinformation. The spread of misinformation can easily result in mass hysteria about current events (Sahni & Sharma, 2020). Lastly, while social media may boost one person’s self-esteem, it may destroy an impressionable individual’s own self-esteem with the hopes of achieving an unattainable reality depicted.

Bibliography

• Bessenoff, G. R. (2006). Can the Media Affect Us? Social Comparison, Self-Discrepancy, and the Thin Ideal. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30(3), 239–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2006.00292.x
• Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem.  Cyberpsychology, behavior, and social networking ,  14 (1-2), 79-83.
• Moorhead SA, Hazlett DE, Harrison L, Carroll JK, Irwin A, Hoving C. A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication. J Med Internet Res 2013;15(4):e85. URL: https://www.jmir.org/2013/4/e85 . DOI: 10.2196/jmir.1933. PMID: 23615206. PMCID: PMC3636326
• Sahni, H., & Sharma, H. (2020, June 29). Role of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Beneficial, destructive, or reconstructive? International Journal of Academic Medicine , 6 (2), 70-75. https://www.ijam-web.org/article.asp?issn=2455-5568;year=2020;volume=6;issue=2;spage=70;epage=75;aulast=SahniSamet, A. (2020, July 29). How the Coronavirus Is Changing US Social Media Usage. eMarketer . https://www.emarketer.com/content/how-coronavirus-changing-us-social-media-usage
• Samet, A. (2020, July 29). How the Coronavirus Is Changing US Social Media Usage. eMarketer . https://www.emarketer.com/content/how-coronavirus-changing-us-social-media-usage

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How the Pandemic Changed Social Media: 6 Quarantine Trends Here to Stay [Data + Expert Insights]

Published: January 24, 2022

At the beginning of the lockdown, many of us were unable to see family or friends. All social plans were cancelled — practically overnight.

And, in the midst of so much stress and chaos, many felt more alone than ever.

Which is why people turned to social media in an effort to find a sense of connection and community. 

Social media became a refuge — a place to post authentic, relatable content and form relationships virtually when in-person wasn't an option. 

And as Lala Fevrier, Wayfair's Senior Associate for Influencer Marketing, puts it, "When restaurants, schools, and businesses shut down, the only place left with a 24/7 open sign for communication and creativity was social media."

All of which is to say: Quarantine, and the pandemic at-large, greatly impacted social media. And those changes have permanently shifted users' expectations and preferences when it comes to their social platforms.

Here, we'll explore six trends we've seen as a result of the pandemic — and why they're here to stay.

How The Pandemic Changed Social Media  

1. quarantine increased time spent on social media, as well as social users worldwide..

Between 2019 to 2021, the amount of social media users worldwide increased by 11%  — from roughly 3.4 billion in 2019 to 3.78 billion in 2021.

As lockdown orders went into effect, many sought out new opportunities to connect with friends and family. In fact, we saw a 5% jump in global users from 2019 to 2020 alone.

People were also bored, which significantly increased the time spent on social media apps. Consider, for instance, the sudden popularity of bread baking in March , or the random challenges across social apps, like the "flip the switch" challenge  that exploded on TikTok in 2020:

@camilacabello had to do it @theecalvit ♬ Nonstop - Dallin and Bella

I know this boredom first-hand: During the beginning of the pandemic, I spent roughly 4 hours each day on Instagram. Rather than grabbing dinner with friends after work or chatting with colleagues on my lunch break, I scrolled through people's IG Stories.

I'm not alone. In the U.S., social media users jumped from spending 56 minutes per day  on social media in 2019 to 65 minutes in 2020 and 2021. And, globally, people spent 145 minutes per day on social media in 2020. (It's important to note: That number has decreased to 142 minutes per day in 2021, suggesting a slight decline in social media use as some of the world re-opens.)

Social media became a place to escape the turmoil of the real world. Along with a spike in social media users, engagement increased on certain platforms, as well. On Instagram, for instance, the average engagement rate for brands increased by roughly 6%  in 2020.

For Sarah White ( @thecoastalyogi ), a Boston-based fitness instructor and influencer, the pandemic was a catalyst for her to launch virtual offerings and leverage social media as an opportunity to create a strong sense of community.

White told me, "Virtual offerings were a side of my business I had considered, but had never seen a need for until March of 2020. Since then, my virtual subscriptions have become a major part of my business and are the primary way I interact with my clients."

White adds, "My Instagram is my primary source of marketing so my posting has definitely increased. I am intentional about answering every message I receive from clients as I know it's this type of relationship-building that differentiates a following from a community."

2. Quarantine impacted video consumption.

2020 was an impressive year for video. In fact, media uploads increased by a staggering 80% year-over-year — peaking at 103,603 video uploads on April 22.

The minutes people spent watching videos in 2020 also increased by 85% .

The pandemic greatly impacted how quickly video rose in popularity. It's now the most popular type of content, and has been for two years in a row.

Additionally, in a HubSpot Blog survey, 42% of respondents said "I watch more videos on social media" in response to the question, "How do you use social media differently now as a result of the pandemic?"

In particular, TikTok , the popular short-form video platform, saw exponential growth as a result of the pandemic. This can be attributed, in large part, to the authenticity of the content produced on TikTok.

As HubSpot's Senior Social Media Strategy Manager Leslie Green  puts it, "A huge platform shift that happened during the pandemic was that tastemakers and culture shifters were born on TikTok — not Instagram. TikTok lifted the hyper-filtered veil off of social with short-form, intimate, and authentic video content."

Green adds, "TikTok, largely due to its For You Page, became a place where anyone could be found. And in the last year many small creators blew up because they were able to create content that spoke poignantly to people's lived experiences and feelings."

If your business hasn't considered it already, 2022 is a good time to test out new types of short-form video content to see how it resonates with your audience. 

Another increasingly popular option for video is live streaming. 

Mari Smith , Premier Facebook Marketing Expert (often referred to as the 'Queen of Facebook') and Top Social Media Thought Leader, suggests brands lean more heavily into live streaming in 2022. 

Smith says, "Embracing live streaming — whether Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn Live — can go a long way towards creating more intimate relationships with your followers. Think of your live videos as 'mini webinars' and always strive to add nuggets of valuable, educational (and/or entertaining!) content, before adding your call-to-action."

In 2022, consider testing different platforms and content types — such as TikToks, Instagram Stories, YouTube videos, or Facebook live streams — to find out which video format performs best with your audience.

3. The pandemic impacted the best times to post on social.

Nowadays, many people work from home and have chosen remote work as their preferred lifestyle moving forward.

Suffice to say, the pandemic permanently shifted people's work schedules.

And, as the typical 9-to-5 work hours changed as a result of the pandemic, social media peak hours adjusted, too.

For instance, Sprout Social found the new best times to post on Facbook are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10–11 a.m.; Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 11 a.m. and Tuesday at 2 p.m. are the best times to post on Instagram.

And currently, the best times to post on LinkedIn are Wednesday at 3 p.m, Thursday at 9–10 a.m., and Friday from 11 a.m.-noon.

It's important to consider how the pandemic changed the way people work, and when. For instance, now that I'm working from home, I take a regular social media break every day around 10 a.m. while I eat my breakfast, since I don't have colleagues around to chat with.  

In 2022, you'll want to conduct your own tests to determine which times are most popular with your  audience — and on which channels.

4. The pandemic impacted the most popular types of content.

During the stress and uncertainty of quarantine and the beginning of the pandemic, many turned to social media to escape the real world. Which is why fun, lighthearted types of content won out.

In fact, in 2020, roughly half (42%) of Gen Zers said they wanted content described as fun  — which surpassed Gen Zers' interest in romantic content (29%) and exciting content (27%).

As boredom as a result of quarantining ensued, social media consumers wanted bright, playful, light-hearted content to cheer them up.

Even now, two years later, 34% of HubSpot Blog Survey respondents said they still seek out more positive and uplifting content than they did pre-pandemic.

Along with more colorful, lighthearted content, we also saw an increase in authentic, user-generated content in 2020. Between March and April, during peak lockdown period, a Lightricks study  found Americans spent over 90% more time using apps to create and edit images, videos, and visual content.

Green says, "The pandemic leveled the playing field for social media because everyone was stuck at home making the most of what they had in front of them: free time, hobbies, interests, and their personality. Content became more approachable and more human. Every day users created posts that spoke to real lived experiences rather than a curated image."

Neal Schaffer , Digital & Social Media Marketing Consultant, Speaker, and Author, agrees that the pandemic shifted the types of content that perform best.

He says, "One major impact that COVID had on social media was in keeping content real. When we couldn't go out for photo shoots, it required celebrities to turn their homes into studios and influencers to post more of their raw selves."

Schaffer says, "As human beings, we sought out people who were having similar experiences to us ... This made social media content more raw, believable, and authentic — and, as a result, further democratized content creation by lowering the threshold of what was required to create content."

Schaffer adds, "Combine this with the popularity of short-form video, and a whole new generation of content creators was born."

I'd argue we're all better off in a world in which social media users post authentic, non-filtered images to depict the realities of life. These #real posts help audiences feel less alone, and can foster a much stronger sense of community.

          View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Victoria Garrick (@victoriagarrick)

Which is why it's vital your team focuses on creating more authentic, behind-the-scenes content in 2022. In fact, many of you already plan to — HubSpot's Blog Research found 79% of B2B and 54% of B2C plan on increasing investments in authentic/behind the scenes content in 2022.

5. Quarantine sped up influencer marketing's popularity.

Influencer marketing  grew exponentially as a result of the pandemic.

The influencer marketing industry went from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.7 billion in 2020  — a staggering 470% increase — and is expected to jump to $13.8 billion in 2021 .

I spoke with Jesse Leimgruber, CEO of influencer marketing agency NeoReach , to learn his perspective on how the pandemic impacted the influencer marketing industry.

Leimgruber told me, "The pandemic boosted the creator economy into the spotlight. Millions of new creators joined the scene, and many found new ways to earn and support their craft. This extra attention on social media allowed influencers to earn money and turn a hobby into a profession."

He adds, "Sponsored posts, partnerships, merch sales and fan donations have proliferated in the last two years. Venture dollars into the creator economy are at an all-time high, and public interest in the space is just getting started. In 10 years, we'll look back and see the 2020s as the decade the creator economy changed the way people work, live, and interact."

At the beginning of quarantine, we saw brands pull away from influencer marketing as the economy became more uncertain and volatile. This makes sense: As a relatively new form of marketing, influencer marketing can seem like a riskier investment to teams struggling to stay afloat.

However, as the world adjusted to lockdowns and remote work, influencer marketing began rising again in popularity. Influencer campaigns increased by 37%  between Q2 and Q3 of 2020, and rose by an additional  34% between Q3 and Q4.

And influencer marketing's popularity isn't slowing down. In 2021, sponsored content increased by almost 27% .

Wayfair's Lala Fevrier agrees that the creator economy has skyrocketed — and, she adds, this creator economy is largely made up of Gen Z influencers. 

Fevrier says, "The largest group to take advantage of social media's accessibility is Gen Z influencers. Because of their efforts, brands are starting to realize they don't need to spend millions of dollars producing content and ads that otherwise feel disingenuous at times. There is a network of individuals telling amazing stories about their favorite brands or products just because they love them." 

If you're interested in getting started with influencer marketing, consider the power of micro-influencers  to engage directly with your intended audience and see more ROI than you might with a bigger celebrity. HubSpot's Blog Research surveyed marketers who already work with influencers, and found 67% of them work with micro-influencers (10K-100K followers/subscribers), followed by 58% who work with macro-influencers (100K-1M followers/subscribers).

6. The pandemic increased the need for community — and new platforms are rising, as a result.

Being stuck at home made it difficult — if not impossible — to feel a sense of community. 

Pre-pandemic, many people turned to the office, fitness classes, parks, or other public spaces to feel connected to a larger group. 

Overnight, those were no longer an option.

Fortunately, when used correctly, social media can fill in the gaps and help serve the fundamental human need of connection.  

As Mari Smith told me: "You absolutely cannot beat the power of building a fiercely loyal community where members bond with one another — and with you."

Smith adds, "Certainly, [community] can be cultivated over time through a Facebook Group linked to your Facebook Page. However, community platforms are on the rise as users and leaders alike seek out different platforms on which to build and join tribes."

Smith says, "I surveyed my Facebook audience in October last year on this topic. Both Mighty Networks and Circle are growing in popularity in terms of an alternative to Facebook Groups. I predict we'll see a slight rise this year in community leaders choosing to migrate away from Facebook towards one of these other platforms in order to cater to their tribe members who've lost trust in Facebook."

Facebook Groups is still a viable option for creating a stronger sense of community and building relationships with your prospects and customers, but in 2022, you'll see brands experiment with other community-building platforms.

In 2021, social media became the #1 channel used in marketing . It's vital you learn how to pivot with these trends to continue to see growth and success across platforms.

The good news? Social media users are craving authenticity now more than ever. So the more your brand can lean into its own uniqueness, the better.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Important role of social media during pandemic disaster

COVID-19 is a pandemic that has hit the entire world when no one anticipated it. When the disease was first identified in late 2019, it was considered to be existent in only one country. Soon after, the disease was all around the world and the second wave of Covid is terrifying the universe. Social media has always been applauded and criticized for various reasons, but the fact is that we cannot communicate with each other effectively without social media today. During a pandemic like COVID, the social media platforms play a vital role than the normal days. KAHE, one of the best Arts and Science colleges in Coimbatore  is committed towards providing the right awareness to the students on the social media.

The growth of social media has been phenomenal over the past decade. The advent of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has been helping us in a lot of ways, especially to communicate better. In tough times like a pandemic, the need for social media is inevitable in order to pass the information from one place to another in a quick manner. For example, when a complete lockdown was announced in March 2020, people were unable to come out of the shock for sometime and it was the social media platforms that helped them to a large extent in knowing what would function and what wouldn’t during the lockdown.

The fact to be noted here is that the people are being able to share information regarding the availability of beds, oxygen supply, vaccine through social media during a pandemic like this. Communication has not been so easy in the past and today many lives are being saved using social media. We are able to witness every day the social media posts by various people explaining their needs and the help done by various celebrities and other good souls after seeing those posts. In this way, the world has understood the tremendous usage of the social media today. KAHE, one of the top Engineering colleges in Coimbatore  helps the students understand the need for an effective usage of the social media.

The social media platforms are also helping the governments to tackle the pandemic by creating a basic awareness among the people on the disease and its spread. The daily announcements given by the government to wear mask and be safe, are reaching the people faster through social media than the traditional means. It enables them to be aware of the current situation, to follow the protocols and be ready to face the challenges. When we say that the social media is contributing immensely to reduce the distress during a pandemic, it is also a challenge to deal with the fake information that are being spread every day with a cruel motive to make people afraid. It is important to make use of the social media effectively and get rid of pain in this pandemic situation.

Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, one of the top colleges in Coimbatore  is your destination to pursue quality higher education. KAHE is focused towards making education an experience for the students with career-oriented training and development of soft skills. KAHE delivers holistic education with well-equipped technical facilities and an atmosphere for peaceful learning.

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KARPAGAM ACADEMY OF HIGHER EDUCATION

(Deemed to be University)

(Established Under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956)

Pollachi Main Road, Eachanari Post, Coimbatore - 641 021, Tamil Nadu, India.

Phone : +91-422 – 2980011 – 14

Email : [email protected]

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