The positive function of social media during the pandemic

Prof José van Dijck discussed the role social media played in the public debate immediately after the Covid-19 outbreak in the Netherlands in an interview with The Network Pages. 

"Social media were instrumental in the dissemination of misinformation. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in particular have been instrumental in the past months in spreading false information about the virus. The WHO has called this the infodemic", Van Dijck says. 

Positive side of social media

We should not underestimate this positive side of social media, it can offer a lot of comfort and bring people into contact with each other

"Social media can turn people against each other, but also encourage people to take joint action, movement. Social media can also have a very positive function; see, for example, how during the pandemic nurses, the sick, and doctors used home-made videos to share an emotional message via YouTube. A message of how they experienced that situation, for example, or to show the enormous effort involved in caring for patients. We should not underestimate this positive side of social media, it can offer a lot of comfort and bring people into contact with each other."