Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual framework
During coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the term ‘infodemic’ was used to depict the abundance of information about COVID-19 on social media that may overwhelm users, as well as misinformation about the virus because of the lack of authentication of information posted on social media. Both the Wo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AOSIS
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Jàmbá |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1416 |
| _version_ | 1827935861937799168 |
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| author | Sivile Manene Charity Hove Liezel Cilliers |
| author_facet | Sivile Manene Charity Hove Liezel Cilliers |
| author_sort | Sivile Manene |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the term ‘infodemic’ was used to depict the abundance of information about COVID-19 on social media that may overwhelm users, as well as misinformation about the virus because of the lack of authentication of information posted on social media. Both the World Health Organization and United Nations have warned that infodemics can become a severe threat to health care if misinformation on social media is not addressed in a timely manner. The objective of this study was to develop a conceptual framework that can be used to mitigate misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media. A structured literature review of purposively sampled scholarly publications from academic databases was conducted. The inclusion criteria chosen were scholarly papers that investigated infodemics on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic in the past 4 years, which were analysed using thematic and content analysis. The conceptual framework used Activity Theory as the theoretical foundation. The framework identifies a set of strategies and activities for both social media platforms and users to mitigate misinformation on social media during a pandemic. This study, therefore, recommends that stakeholders utilise the developed framework on social media to reduce the spread of misinformation.
Contribution: Based on the literature review, there are negative health outcomes during a social media infodemic because of the spread of misinformation on social media. The study concluded that by implementing a set of strategies and activities identified through the framework, health information can be managed on social media to improve health outcomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:00:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-39e2cd799bb341678ccb0cc225c2d5f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-845X 1996-1421 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:00:59Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Jàmbá |
| spelling | doaj.art-39e2cd799bb341678ccb0cc225c2d5f92023-06-01T13:55:13ZengAOSISJàmbá2072-845X1996-14212023-05-01151e1e810.4102/jamba.v15i1.1416436Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual frameworkSivile Manene0Charity Hove1Liezel Cilliers2Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Management and Commerce, University of Fort Hare, East LondonDepartment of Information Systems, Faculty of Management and Commerce, University of Fort Hare, East LondonDepartment of Information Systems, Faculty of Management and Commerce, University of Fort Hare, East LondonDuring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the term ‘infodemic’ was used to depict the abundance of information about COVID-19 on social media that may overwhelm users, as well as misinformation about the virus because of the lack of authentication of information posted on social media. Both the World Health Organization and United Nations have warned that infodemics can become a severe threat to health care if misinformation on social media is not addressed in a timely manner. The objective of this study was to develop a conceptual framework that can be used to mitigate misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media. A structured literature review of purposively sampled scholarly publications from academic databases was conducted. The inclusion criteria chosen were scholarly papers that investigated infodemics on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic in the past 4 years, which were analysed using thematic and content analysis. The conceptual framework used Activity Theory as the theoretical foundation. The framework identifies a set of strategies and activities for both social media platforms and users to mitigate misinformation on social media during a pandemic. This study, therefore, recommends that stakeholders utilise the developed framework on social media to reduce the spread of misinformation. Contribution: Based on the literature review, there are negative health outcomes during a social media infodemic because of the spread of misinformation on social media. The study concluded that by implementing a set of strategies and activities identified through the framework, health information can be managed on social media to improve health outcomes.https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1416infodemicmisinformationcovid-19social mediaactivity theory |
| spellingShingle | Sivile Manene Charity Hove Liezel Cilliers Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual framework Jàmbá infodemic misinformation covid-19 social media activity theory |
| title | Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual framework |
| title_full | Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual framework |
| title_fullStr | Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual framework |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual framework |
| title_short | Mitigating misinformation about the COVID-19 infodemic on social media: A conceptual framework |
| title_sort | mitigating misinformation about the covid 19 infodemic on social media a conceptual framework |
| topic | infodemic misinformation covid-19 social media activity theory |
| url | https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1416 |
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