COVID-19 on Instagram: A content analysis of selected accounts

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to characterize the representation of public health information related to COVID-19 posted on Instagram in 2020. Methods This qualitative content analysis study was conducted in Iran as one of the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19. Data were collected from the contents published from February 19 to April 3, 2020, on Instagram. The search feature of the Instagram app was used to find the posts related to Coronavirus or COVID-19. Overall, 1612 posts from 92 accounts were retrieved and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results A total of 23 themes emerged from the analysis of the retrieved posts. These themes include epidemiology and statistics, training and caring, general prevention guidelines, hygiene, healthy diet and lifestyle, patients, diagnosis and treatment, personal protective equipment, traditional medicine, psychology, children, cultural aspects, socio-cultural impacts, religious, misinformation, and wrong behaviors, animals, satire, condition of the healthcare system, politics, quarantine, operations of the Iranian National Disaster Management Organization (NDMO), economic impacts, and world news. Conclusion The contents analysis of Instagram posts during a public health crisis can provide new and realistic insights into the crisis and identify the topics of interest or concern of the public. Furthermore, the information collected in this way can help policymakers identify the most critical issues from the public perspective and utilize the gained knowledge to manage the ongoing and future pandemics.

Análise da informação sobre cloroquina e ivermectina nas mídias digitais Youtube e Instagram: relação entre Covid-19 e infodemia

“…The study by Niknam et al (2021) 23 on the analysis of the Instagram content about COVID-19 revealed that the post mostly contained information about the following: drug treatment, distribution of medications, news about vaccines, symptoms, and characteristics of the virus. With this, it is perceived that Instagram also has a system for dissemination and sharing, evidenced by its metrics, information that allows for fast reach, verifying the subject matter being shared, and the reactions to it by the readers.…”

El discurs amb informació errònia a Instagram. Estudi multimodal dels candidats presidencials a l’Amèrica Llatina davant la COVID-19

“…Politicians were able to use the content of their networks to promote public participation in the prevention of and the fight against the pandemic (Niknam et al, 2020;Castillo-Esparcia, Fernández-Souto and Puentes-Rivera, 2020). Research, such as a study of the use of Twitter as a presidential communication channel in the initial period of COVID-19 (Manfredi-Sánchez et al, 2021), indicated Presidents Sánchez and Bolsonaro deployed a health management communication strategy, while López Obrador and Fernández paid little attention to health policy.…”

“…The objective of this research was to study the multimodal narrative of candidates and to determine whether it carried implicit misinformation in the coherence of the coronavirus prevention discourse with respect to the images and text projected by candidates on their Instagram accounts. Analyzing the content of Instagram posts can help identify the thoughts and feelings of the candidates in the face of the health crisis (Niknam et al, 2020).…”

The Tourism Sector Government Crisis Communication at the Beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Strategies for Utilizing Instagram Social Media

“…One of the social media that can be used as a channel to convey crisis information is Instagram, where Niknam et al, (2020), found that Instagram users used various strategies in creating content about the public health crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic, and generated as many as 23 themes on their content posts which include epidemiology and statistics, training and care, general prevention guidelines, hygiene, healthy diet and lifestyle, patients, diagnosis and treatment, personal protective equipment, traditional medicine, psychology, children, cultural aspects, socio-cultural impact, religion, misinformation and wrong behavior, animals, satire, health care system condition, politics, quarantine, economic impact, and world news. Such information is certainly very much needed with credible sources, which can be provided by interested organizations.…”