Tracking Private WhatsApp Discourse About COVID-19 in Singapore: Longitudinal Infodemiology Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Worldwide, social media traffic increased following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the spread of COVID-19 content has been described for several social media platforms (eg, Twitter and Facebook), little is known about how such content is spread via private messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp (WhatsApp LLC).

Objective

In this study, we documented (1) how WhatsApp is used to transmit COVID-19 content, (2) the characteristics of WhatsApp users based on their usage patterns, and (3) how usage patterns link to COVID-19 concerns.

Methods

We used the experience sampling method to track day-to-day WhatsApp usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. For 1 week, participants reported each day the extent to which they had received, forwarded, or discussed COV

SUBMITTER: Tan EY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8709420 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature