Covid-19 Information Behaviour of Social Media Users in Nigeria

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-659X/8316

Keywords:

Covid-19, information behaviour, social media users, Nigeria, NCDC, WHO

Abstract

The study that directed this article investigated the Covid-19 information behaviour of social media users in Nigeria. Based on the nature of the study population, the data for the study were collected using Google Form to create an electronic questionnaire. Altogether 348 social media users participated in the survey. Findings from the study showed that the participating social media users in Nigeria were interested in knowing everything about Covid-19. Also, they preferred the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) social media platforms as their main sources of Covid-19 information. The study also showed that Covid-19 information was majorly shared among these social media users in Nigeria through WhatsApp. However, data revealed that the participating social media users in Nigeria were satisfied with the available Covid-19 information. Finally, findings indicated that fake news and misinformation, as well as too much information on Covid-19 available on social media, constituted the major challenge that the interviewed social media users encountered when searching for Covid-19 information.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Amini M., and M. Mostafavizade. 2017. “Survey on Health Literacy of Librarians in Tehran University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences.” Depiction of Health 7 (4): 37–45.

Bates, M. J. 2010. “Information Behaviour.” Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Sciences, no. 3: 2381–2391. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120043263. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120043263

Brindha, M. D., R. Jayaseelan, and S. Kadeswara. 2020. Social Media Reigned by Information or Misinformation about Covid-19: A Phenomenological Study. PSG College of Arts & Science. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3596058. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3596058

Case, D. O. 2002. Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs and Behaviour. San Diego CA.: Academic Press.

Case, D. O. 2007. Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs and Behaviour, 2nd edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Chen, E., K. Lerman, and E. Ferrara. 2020. “Covid-19: The First Public Coronavirus Twitter Dataset.”. Cornell University. https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.07372v1.

Cinelli, M., W. Quattrociocchi, A. Galeazzi, C. M. Valensise, E. Brugnoli, A. L. Schmidt … A. Scala. 2020. “The Covid-19 Social Media Infodemic.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.05004. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73510-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73510-5

Clarke, M. A., J. L. Belden, R. J. Koopman, L. M. Steege, J. L. Moore, S. M. Canfield, and M. S. Kim. 2013. “Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviour Analysis of Primary Care Physicians and Nurses: A Literature Review.” Health Information and Libraries Journal 30 (3): 178–190. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12036

Depoux, A., S. Martin, E. Karafillakis, R. Preet, A. Wilder-Smith, and H. Larson. 2020. “The Pandemic of Social Media Panic Travels faster than the Covid-19 Outbreak.” https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa031. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa031

Hassan, I. 2020, March. “COVID-19: The Dual Threat of a Virus and a Fake News Epidemic.” Premium Times. https://headtopics.com/ng/covid-19-the-dual-threat-of-a-virus-and-a-fake-news-epidemic-by-idayat-hassan-premium-times-opin-12109663.

Hussain, A. H. M. B. 2020. “State Policies Decrease Movement During COVID-19.” Contexts 19 (4): 51–55. doi:10.1177/1536504220977936. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1536504220977936

Ingwersen, P., and K. Järvelin. 2005. “The Sense of Information: Understanding the Cognitive Conditional Information Concept in relation to Information Acquisition.” In International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Sciences, 7–19. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11495222_3

Kehinde, A. A., S. A. Obi, A. A. Akinade, and A. O. Anyim. 2016. “Information Needs and Seeking Behaviour of Master’s Students in the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, Kwara State.” Library Philosophy and Practice. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1463).

Kemp, S. 2020. “Digital 2020: Nigeria.” Accessed May 21, 2020. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-nigeria.

Kim, L., S. M. Fast, and N. Markuzon. 2019. “Incorporating Media Data into a Model of Infectious Disease Transmission.” PloS one 14 (2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197646. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197646

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). 2020a. “First Case of Corona Virus Disease Confirmed in Nigeria.” Accessed May 23, 2020. https://ncdc.gov.ng/news/227/first-case-of-corona-virus-disease-confirmed-in-nigeria.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). 2020b. “Covid-19 Nigeria.” Accessed July 29, 2020. https://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/.

Ogundipe, S. 2020. “Nigeria: NCDC Launches Covid-19 WhatsApp Service to Engage Nigerians.” Accessed June 16, 2020. https://allafrica.com/stories/202004010413.html.

Omopupa, T. K. 2016. “Information Behaviour of Medical Faculty in the Tertiary Health Institutions in Kwara State Nigeria.” PhD thesis. School of Social Sciences, College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus, South Africa University of … https://ukzn-dspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/13009.

Shaman, J., A. Karspeck, W. Yang, J. Tamerius, and M. Lipsitch. 2013. “Real-time Influenza Forecasts during the 2012–2013 Season.” Nature Communications 4 (1): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3837. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3837

Sharma, M., K. Yadav, N. Yadav, and K. C. Ferdinand. 2017. “Zika Virus Pandemic: Analysis of Facebook as a Social Media Health Information Platform.” American Journal of Infection Control 45 (3): 301–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2016.08.022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2016.08.022

Shigemura, J., R. J. Ursano, J. C. Morganstein et al. 2020. “Public Responses to the Novel 2019 coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Japan: Mental Health Consequences and Target Populations.” Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. https ://doi.org/10.1111/pcn.12988. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pcn.12988

Tijani, M. 2020. “How to Spot Covid-19 Misinformation on WhatsApp.” Accessed June 16, 2020. https://factcheck.afp.com/how-spot-covid-19-misinformation-whatsapp.

Vara, V. 2020. “Coronavirus Outbreak: The Countries Affected.” Accessed May 21, 2020. https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/coronavirus-outbreak-the-countries-affected/.

Viboud, C., and A. Vespignani. 2019. “The Future of Influenza Forecasts.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (8): 2802–2804. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1822167116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1822167116

Vilar, P. 2015. “Information Behaviour of Scholars.” Libellarium: Journal for the Research of Writing, Books, and Cultural Heritage Institutions 7 (1): 17–39. https://doi.org/10.15291/libellarium.v7i1.194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15291/libellarium.v7i1.194

WhatsApp. 2020. “How WhatsApp can Help you Stay Connected during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic.” Accessed June 16, 2020. https://www.whatsapp.com/coronavirus/.

Willems, J., M. Knassmüller, F. Ebinger, K. Dinhof, and M. Schmid. 2020. “Austria in the Covid-19 Pandemic-Citizens’ Satisfaction with Crisis Measures and Communication.” https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/y37sq. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/y37sq

Wilson, T. D. 1999. “Models in Information Behaviour Research.” Journal of Documentation 55 (3): 249–270. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000007145. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000007145

Wilson, T. D. 2000. “Human Information Behaviour.” Informing Science 3 (2): 49–56. https://doi.org/10.28945/576. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28945/576

World Health Organisation (WHO). 2020a. “Coronavirus.” Accessed May 20, 2020. https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1.

World Health Organisation (WHO). 2020b. “WHO Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Dashboard.” Accessed July 29, 2020. https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvIT5BRCqARIsAAwwD-SR0EM1ApsAfI9QNrIx6BkEyANrTRzL3RXu5B9OG7j9Gp7Xy1B6ussaAgcLEALw_wcB.

Zegarra-Valdivia, J., B. N. C. Vilca, and R. J. A. Guerrero. 2020. “Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception Susceptibility towards the Covid-19 Pandemic in Latin American Region.” https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/w9y6z. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/w9y6z

Published

2022-07-12

How to Cite

Kehinde, Adetola Ayotunde, Kehinde Kadijat Kadiri, Rakiya Aliyu Bello, Halimah Odunayo Amuda, and Beatrice Tobashe. 2022. “Covid-19 Information Behaviour of Social Media Users in Nigeria”. Mousaion: South African Journal of Information Studies 40 (1):16 pages. https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-659X/8316.