“…Social media use increased during the pandemic (Zhao and Zhou, 2021 ) owing to social distancing and quarantining of the individuals to prevent the spread of infection caused by COVID-19. Previous studies have been carried out on COVID-19 from different perspectives like digital learning during the emergence of COVID-19 virus (Hasan and Bao, 2020 ; Aditya, 2021 ; Chaturvedi et al, 2021 ; Deshpande and Mhatre, 2021 ; Smith et al, 2021 ), its impact on the economies of different countries (Hasan and Bao, 2020 ; Ye et al, 2020 ; Ali et al, 2021 ; Bhattacharya and Banerjee, 2021 ; Cuschieri and Grech, 2021 ; Delbiso et al, 2021 ; Donnarumma and Pezzulo, 2021 ; Klasche, 2021 ; Mahi et al, 2021 ; Prempeh, 2021 ; Roy et al, 2021 ), its role in the global health crisis (Abdalla et al, 2021 ; Ankrah et al, 2021 ; Chaturvedi et al, 2021 ; Chirisa et al, 2021 ; Donnarumma and Pezzulo, 2021 ; Hannam-Swain and Bailey, 2021 ; Klasche, 2021 ; Prempeh, 2021 ; Sarfraz et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2021 ; Zhao and Zhou, 2021 ) and the worst of all its impact on the mental wellbeing of people (Ciotti et al, 2020 ; Elmer et al, 2020 ; Filipova et al, 2020 ; Lee, 2020 ; Serafini et al, 2020 ; Adom et al, 2021 ; Chaturvedi et al, 2021 ; Coupet et al, 2021 ; Das and Bhattacharyya, 2021 ; Deshpande and Mhatre, 2021 ; Hannam-Swain and Bailey, 2021 ; Kareem, 2021 ; Li and Cao, 2021 ; Pandya and Lodha, 2021 ; Saha et al, 2021 ; Tonkin and Whitaker, 2021 ; Xiong et al, 2021 ). However, understanding the role of online social media use to meet the social needs after the closure of physical social interactive places amid COVID-19 is critical (Haman, 2020 ; Jogezai et al, 2021 ).…”