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

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the whole world, threatened individuals physically, mentally andsocially, and considerably transformed their lifestyles in varying ways. Considering the spread of thedisease and affected age groups, the struggle with COVID-19 should not be limited to the medicalaspect...

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Main Authors: Hatice Tuzcu, Yasemin Bilişli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Marmara University 2021-06-01
Series:Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1511588
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author Hatice Tuzcu
Yasemin Bilişli
author_facet Hatice Tuzcu
Yasemin Bilişli
author_sort Hatice Tuzcu
collection DOAJ
description The COVID-19 pandemic affected the whole world, threatened individuals physically, mentally andsocially, and considerably transformed their lifestyles in varying ways. Considering the spread of thedisease and affected age groups, the struggle with COVID-19 should not be limited to the medicalaspect but should also be addressed socially. The present study attempted to reveal how the usageof social media has been modified during the pandemic by drawing attention to the aspects of theCOVID-19 pandemic that affected social life. The general aim of the study is to examine the purposesand motivations of the individuals’ social media usage during the pandemic with reference to Uses andGratification approach. The research was carried out with 12 university graduate female participantsover the age of 50, who were determined by snowball sampling method. The findings obtained in thisstudy showed that the participants increased their usage of social media during the pandemic comparedto their previous engamenents with social media. Moreover, some of the participants increased theirusage of social media to reach news about COVID-19 faster, which pointed out their motivation to usesocial 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 changedsocial media usage and also points to the power of social media.
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series Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi
spelling doaj-art-5d5f3bd5af3f4494b16a9e31313d61f72025-01-26T18:31:51ZengMarmara UniversityTürkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi2630-62202021-06-013732934410.17829/turcom.8618363The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification ApproachHatice Tuzcu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3601-4311Yasemin Bilişli1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9272-9568AKDENİZ ÜNİVERSİTESİAkdeniz ÜniversitesiThe COVID-19 pandemic affected the whole world, threatened individuals physically, mentally andsocially, and considerably transformed their lifestyles in varying ways. Considering the spread of thedisease and affected age groups, the struggle with COVID-19 should not be limited to the medicalaspect but should also be addressed socially. The present study attempted to reveal how the usageof social media has been modified during the pandemic by drawing attention to the aspects of theCOVID-19 pandemic that affected social life. The general aim of the study is to examine the purposesand motivations of the individuals’ social media usage during the pandemic with reference to Uses andGratification approach. The research was carried out with 12 university graduate female participantsover the age of 50, who were determined by snowball sampling method. The findings obtained in thisstudy showed that the participants increased their usage of social media during the pandemic comparedto their previous engamenents with social media. Moreover, some of the participants increased theirusage of social media to reach news about COVID-19 faster, which pointed out their motivation to usesocial 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 changedsocial media usage and also points to the power of social media.https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1511588covid-19pandemicsocial mediauses and gratificationshealth communicationsalgınsosyal medyakullanımlar ve doyumlarsağlık i̇letişimicovid-19
spellingShingle Hatice Tuzcu
Yasemin Bilişli
The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification Approach
Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi
covid-19
pandemic
social media
uses and gratifications
health communication
salgın
sosyal medya
kullanımlar ve doyumlar
sağlık i̇letişimi
covid-19
title The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification Approach
title_full The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification Approach
title_fullStr The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification Approach
title_full_unstemmed The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification Approach
title_short The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Media Usage in the Context of Uses and Gratification Approach
title_sort effects of covid 19 pandemic on social media usage in the context of uses and gratification approach
topic covid-19
pandemic
social media
uses and gratifications
health communication
salgın
sosyal medya
kullanımlar ve doyumlar
sağlık i̇letişimi
covid-19
url https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1511588
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