The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification Approach

Öz

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the whole world, threatened individuals physically, mentally and socially, and considerably transformed their lifestyles in varying ways. Considering the spread of the disease and affected age groups, the struggle with COVID-19 should not be limited to the medical aspect but should also be addressed socially. The present study attempted to reveal how the usage of social media has been modified during the pandemic by drawing attention to the aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic that affected social life. The general aim of the study is to examine the purposes and motivations of the individuals’ social media usage during the pandemic with reference to Uses and Gratification approach. The research was carried out with 12 university graduate female participants over the age of 50, who were determined by snowball sampling method. The findings obtained in this study showed that the participants increased their usage of social media during the pandemic compared to their previous engamenents with social media. Moreover, some of the participants increased their usage of social media to reach news about COVID-19 faster, which pointed out their motivation to use social media for obtaining accurate information. Finally, the most important change in the participants’ usage of social media was about their Twitter engagements. The results show that covid-19 has changed social media usage and also points to the power of social media.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Covid-19
• Pandemic
• Social media
• Uses and Gratifications
• Health Communication

Kullanımlar ve Doyumlar Yaklaşımı Bağlamında COVID-19 Pandemisinin Sosyal Medya Kullanımına Etkisi

Öz

Tüm dünyayı etkisi altına alan COVID-19 salgını bireyleri fiziksel, ruhsal ve sosyal yönden tehdit altına alırken, yaşam tarzlarını da büyük ölçüde etkilemiştir. Hastalığın yayılış şekli, görüldüğü yaş grupları dikkate alındığında; konunun sadece tıbbi boyutla sınırla kalmayıp, sosyal yönden de ele alınması gereken bir konu olduğunu gözler önüne sermektedir. Bu noktadan hareketle makalede, COVID-19 salgınının sosyal yaşamı etkileyen yanına dikkat çekilerek bu durumdan sosyal medya kullanımının ne şekilde etkilendiği ortaya konmaya çalışılmıştır. Çalışmanın genel amacı, pandemi sırasında bireylerin sosyal medya kullanım amaçlarını ve motivasyonlarını “kullanımlar ve doyumlar yaklaşımı”ndan hareketle incelemektir. Araştırma kartopu örnekleme yöntemi ile seçilen, üniversite mezunu 50 yaş üzeri 12 kadın katılımcı ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu çalışmada elde edilen bulgular, katılımcıların salgın sırasında sosyal medyayı salgın öncesi döneme göre daha fazla takip etmeye başladığını göstermiştir. Katılımcıların bir kısmının COVID-19 ile ilgili haberlere daha hızlı ulaşabilmek için sosyal medya kullanımını artırdıkları belirlenirken, büyük çoğunluğunun doğru bilgi almak için sosyal medyayı kullandığı tespit edilmiştir. Katılımcıların, COVID-19 öncesi döneme göre sosyal medya kullanımındaki en önemli değişikliğin ise Twitter kullanımında olduğu görülmüştür. Sonuçlar, COVID-19 salgınının sosyal medyayı kullanma tercihlerini değiştirirken, sosyal medyanın etkin gücününe dikkat çekmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Salgın
• Sosyal medya
• Kullanımlar ve Doyumlar
• Sağlık İletişimi
• COVID-19

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