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. 2022 Dec:3:100075.
doi: 10.1016/j.hpopen.2022.100075. Epub 2022 Jul 28.

Perception and determinants of Social Networking Sites (SNS) on spreading awareness and panic during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

Mohammad Omar Faruk  1 , Popy Devnath  2 , Sanchita Kar  3 , Eshiika Afsana Eshaa  4 , Hakka Naziat  5
Affiliations

Perception and determinants of Social Networking Sites (SNS) on spreading awareness and panic during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

Mohammad Omar Faruk et al. Health Policy Open. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented and unique fallout worldwide and creates colossal disruption in human survival. During the pandemic, social networking sites (SNS) played a significant role in disseminating news related to the pandemic.

Methods: This research is based on primary data collected from 400 successful respondents via online Google Form. Bivariate Pearson's Chi-square and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis were performed to determine the impact of the explanatory variables on the study variables.

Results: This study reveals that most respondents (n = 360, 90 %) use SNS to get up-to-date news, and 72.5 % (n = 290) read health-related information. The highest number of participants (n = 386, 96.5 %) were Facebook users. Multivariate binary logistic regression reveals that "reading news on SNS" and "sharing information related to COVID-19 on social media" significantly influence the spread of awareness of COVID-19. "Unauthentic news sources" and "stop using social media to stay away from panic" also have a substantial impact on the spread of panic during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: SNS has become an inevitable medium of information carrier nowadays. Social media users are found significantly aware of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study might assist the concerned persons in taking the necessary steps to propagate authentic news and regulate appropriate policies to prevent spreading misinformation.

Keywords: Awareness; Bangladesh; COVID-19; COVID-19, Coronavirus Disease 2019; IEDCR, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research; Misinformation; PSTD, Post-traumatic stress disorder; Panic; SNS, Social Networking Sites; Social networking site; Spread; WHO, World Health Organization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of media users to get up-to-date news in Bangladesh.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentage of social media most frequently visited by the respondents in Bangladesh.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Most popular social networking platform worldwide in 2021 (in million).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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