Using Humor to Promote Social Distancing on Tiktok During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many humorous videos on how to practice social distancing appeared on social media. However, the effect of using humor as a crisis communication strategy to persuade people to conform to social distancing rules is not known.

Objective

Drawing on the literature on humorous message framing and crisis communication, this research explores the effectiveness of a humorous message in communicating social distancing rules in two crisis severity phases (low vs. high severity) and also evaluates how humor affects individuals' online and offline engagement intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A 2 (message framing: humorous vs. non-humorous) x 2 (crisis severity phase: low vs. high) between-subjects design experiment was condu

SUBMITTER: Xiao Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9261496 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature