Youtube as an Information Source During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic: Evaluation of the Turkish and English Content

Abstract

Introduction: YouTube is an important online source of information and has two billion users globally. Its viewing numbers tend to increase exponentially in extraordinary global situations. Our aim in this study was to review and evaluate the contents of the most frequently viewed YouTube videos during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: In this qualitative study, contents of the most frequently viewed Turkish and English YouTube videos regarding the COVID-19 pandemic were examined and scored with modified DISCERN, medical information and content index (MICI), and video power index (VPI) during April 2020. Results: The mean DISCERN score of Turkish videos was similar to that of English videos (2.55±1.40 and 2.43±1.25, respectively). The total MICI score tended to be higher in Turkish videos. News channels released 86.9% of all 168 videos and 65.2% of all 23 misleading videos. When the descriptive characteristics of videos were compared in terms of their content category, average view counts, view ratios, and VPIs of misleading videos were higher than those of the useful videos. Only, the likes ratio of useful videos was higher than that of the misleading videos. Conclusions: Since there is no peer-review system on YouTube, people can almost release every type of video. It is very important for the content of videos that are released through news channels to be accurate because the important messages can be spread among people in society through them. In our study, especially some Turkish videos included many different rumors and faulty statements. During the extraordinary situations such as the pandemic, the videos of official health authorities and international institutions should be more visible on YouTube.

The causes, impacts and countermeasures of COVID-19 “Infodemic”: A systematic review using narrative synthesis

“…High percentages of misinformation were also found when the search was conducted in English or on other platforms (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) ( Li et al., 2020 ; Ahmed et al., 2020 ; Ahmed et al., 2020 ). Similar findings were also reported by a considerable amount of studies ( Ahmed et al., 2020 ; Pulido et al., 2020 ; Moon and Lee, 2020 ; Bârgăoanu and Durach, 2020 ; Khatri et al., 2020 ; Ataç et al., 2020 ; D'Souza et al., 2020 ; Dutta et al., 2020 ; Kocyigit et al., 2020 ; Yüce et al., 2020 ; Yuksel and Cakmak, 2020 ; Kawchuk et al., 2020 ; Raja and Shaheed, 2020 ; Almomani and Al-Qur'an, 2020 ; Cuan-Baltazar et al., 2020 ; Szmuda et al., 2020 ; Moscadelli et al., 2020 ; Obiała et al., 2021 ; Mackey et al., 2020 ; Safarnejad et al., 2020 ; Tagliabue et al., 2020 ).…”

Characteristics of YouTube Videos About Peripheral Artery Disease During COVID-19 Pandemic

“…They analyzed the quality of YouTube videos in six languages: Arabic, Bengali, Dutch, English, Hindi, and Nigerian, finding a MICI score of 5.68 [14]. In another study, Atac et al examined the quality of YouTube videos about COVID-19 and found a MICI score of 2.76 for English language videos and 3.33 for Turkish language videos [15]. A wide range of MICI scores are reported in the literature, perhaps because of the constant flow of new information about COVID-19, the different languages of the videos reviewed, and the different target audiences of the videos.…”

Research on the Influencing Factors of Audience Popularity Level of COVID-19 Videos during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…First of all, studies on the transmission of text information have used a variety of different platforms as data sources, including Twitter [ 24 , 25 ], Weibo [ 26 ], and Facebook [ 27 ]. However, most research on epidemic information spread in the form of video has used the YouTube platform as the information source [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Compared with research on traditional text, research on videos tends to focus on a relatively single platform; there are many other emerging video platforms worth studying.…”

“…Secondly, previous studies on the factors affecting the popularity of COVID-19 videos have mainly been conducted from the perspective of certain video features [ 28 , 30 ], while few studies have comprehensively considered various indicators of video features. In addition, few studies have considered the effects of uploader features on video popularity.…”