Media Literacy Amid Covid-19: Analysis of Facebook and Twitter Posts During Lockdown Periods in India

Abstract

Recent cases of misinformation and fake claims spread on social media during the crisis of  COVID-19 resulted in use of term ‘Infodemics’ while addressing the kind of role social  media users across the world played in health communication. Thus, it becomes pertinent to  introspect the pattern in which information is accessed, evaluated and shared on these  platforms, especially during a public health crisis. The current study tried to analyse the level  of media literacy of 100 Facebook users and 102 Twitter users in India by evaluating and  comparing their posts during two lockdown periods with reference to credibility of  information and sources, myths about COVID-19 and the manner of presenting their point.  It  was found that while both of these social media platforms provide a scope for diverse opinion  and information, Facebook, more than Twitter contains the risk of propagating conflict oriented manipulated information from unverified sources that is sufficient to create  hinderance in the communication policy of health makers.