Madziva Roda, Nachipo Brian, Musuka Godfrey, Chitungo Itai, Murewanhema Grant, Phiri Bright, Dzinamarira Tafadzwa
School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Ministry of Health and Child Care, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Health Promot Perspect. 2022 May 29;12(1):22-27. doi: 10.34172/hpp.2022.03. eCollection 2022.
The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains a significant global public health crisis. The unique evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen social media emerging and growing into an important vehicle for rapid information dissemination. This has in turn given rise to multiple sources of information, leading to what has come to be known as 'infodemic', associated with the plethora of misinformation and conspiracy theories. In this perspective, we explore the growth of the social media industry and the impact it has had during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. We argue that while the multiple information pieces circulating on social media cause misinformation and panic, this might not necessarily and in all the cases influence sustained behaviours in the target population groups. We offer suggestions on how the power of social media can be harnessed and integrated into social and public health for a better digital balance for communication for development.
持续的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行仍然是一场重大的全球公共卫生危机。COVID-19大流行的独特演变使社交媒体得以出现并发展成为快速信息传播的重要载体。这反过来又产生了多种信息来源，导致了所谓的“信息疫情”，与大量错误信息和阴谋论相关。从这个角度出发，我们探讨了社交媒体行业的发展及其在当前COVID-19危机期间所产生的影响。我们认为，虽然社交媒体上传播的多种信息会造成错误信息和恐慌，但这不一定会在所有情况下影响目标人群的持续行为。我们就如何利用社交媒体的力量并将其融入社会和公共卫生领域以实现更好的数字平衡促进发展交流提出了建议。
