Conference Title: Instagram as a Communication Enhancing Tool in Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Introduction of the Issue

Imagining a world without social media usage in the present situation is next to impossible. From being able to connect with our friends and family through sharing our favorite pictures, stories, and memories to reading on what the trends are all about, Instagram has become more of a necessity than merely being a tool that we initially used as for building networks. The peak use and the potential that this platform holds has been only identified during the time of a global pandemic where the tools provided by this social networking application serve to be one of the most efficient ways to connect with the communities across the world. Further, without the presence of Instagram as a platform, it is also hard to imagine the course of how media communication would evolve across the world in a connected manner.

Position of the Paper

The use of Instagram for the communication of information is rather efficient and suitable since using this specific tool, it becomes easier for the spread of audio and visual information in a rapid manner. Further, given that the platform allows for information to be presented to a targeted and focused audience, the support towards the platform is due to how it allows for individuals to stay massively connected and be inspired or motivated with the content that is shared on the platform. The argument that this paper seeks to present is how social media, specifically from the example of Instagram as a platform has one of the most integral roles to play when it comes to rapid information communication and dissemination in an environment where virtual connections seem to be the most reliable and feasible for audiences around the world.

Arguments for the use of Instagram for Information Dissemination

Framing of Risk to promote Preventive Pressures and Reduce Panic

The first argument relates to how social media platforms and specifically the Instagram platform has become an important source for news information to a wide range of audience. As highlighted by the Washington Post in 2020, despite of the concerns relating to misinformation on social media platforms, platforms such as Instagram and Facebook remain to be the first platforms that individuals visit when looking for any new information. From the perspective of an online environment, engagement in any form of information and related evaluation is rare given that there is a presence of various cognitive heuristics in the form of content endorsements mainly that provides credibility to any form of information that is present online through either known or unknown sources (Amundsen et al, 2021).

As seen during the year 2020, one of the most crucial and integral benefits that was provided by the social media of Instagram related to how the information was framed and made available to the users of these platforms in a manner that they could identify which specific behaviors and patterns put the consumers at a higher risk of developing the Covid-19 infection. These infographics which were developed and promoted by various Instagram accounts of news publications allowed for users to be aware of the preventive measures that need to be adhered to individuals across different categories of risk (Amundsen et al, 2021). The way these infographics were framed and spread across social media platforms in a rapid manner allowed for individuals for being able to understand in a rather simplistic manner as to how they could reduce the risk levels. In addition to this, the role of platforms such as Instagram has been more dominant in the recent environment since this health-related information is often provided to the users of these social media platforms through official institutions such as World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, National or Institute of Health (Apuke and Omar, 2021).

Developing Forums and connecting Global Communities

The second major argument that can be made in relation to how social media can be used for strong dissemination of information is how these platforms allow for interactive platforms to be created and hence provide the ability for users to share information with one another. During the time of a pandemic as well as uncertain environments, it is obvious that consumers have a variety of information that they want to seek clarity on and be able to gain assistance from another individual. The use of social media platforms can therefore allow for such safe interaction between individuals (Cato et al, 2021). According to the previous studies conducted, in uncertain times such as that of a global pandemic, the presence of social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook also helps ensure that consumers can stay connected to one another which helps them provide psychological, emotional, and mental support in a traumatic and uncertain environment. Based on the communication that these individuals make, it also becomes easier to identify the concerns that the community has and how the local institutions or the government can address these aspects by providing the right financial, housing or health support during times of a pandemic (Cato et al, 2021).

As highlighted in the study by Cato et al (2021), during the year 2020, a considerable level of interactive activities were conducted using social media platforms such as how consumers can indulge in protection and preventive measures, identify the myths or inaccurate information relating to the pandemic, travel advice and interactions such as how individuals can adopt certain health practices to keep them motivated and positive during the national movement restrictions. Social Media platforms therefore help promote constant dialogue between members of the society and ensure that social contact for the purpose of support, assistance and diverse interaction is constantly maintained (Masciantonio et al, 2021). The presence of these platforms also helps ensure that the overall speculation that might be present within the community and which might lead to an increased level of anxiety and panic among the individuals can be highly reduced as these forums help ensure that the people are constantly informed of any changes that are happening in the society. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control has been able to provide consistent infographics and forums for interaction to the consumers where they can seek relative information about the prevention strategies. Based on these examples, the level of interaction that social media platforms allow for the society is quite complex and beneficial at a time when virtual interaction has become a necessity to sustain quality interaction between communities (Masciantonio et al, 2021).

Arguments against the use of Instagram for Information Dissemination

Propagation of Hate Speech and Crimes

An integral argument that has been made by the opponents of social media usage in dissemination of information relates to how the content that is developed by multiple users on these platforms might propagate a strong level of hate crimes and speech throughout the society. The classic example of this relates to how nationwide protests were seen across United States because of the George Floyd's killing where there were multiple incorrect and inaccurate posts about communication blackouts as well as widespread unrest (Rathnayake and Suthers, 2021). However, it is also necessary to note how these information dissemination and communication has allowed for communities to widely represent causes that they believe are highly crucial for fair practices and safety of the community (Rathnayake and Suthers, 2021). In addition to this, since social media companies have deployed content moderators and artificial intelligence bots, it is becoming increasingly easy and efficient to control the spread of any misinformation. These improvements further highlight as to how the use of these platforms can be made more efficient in the case of how they allow for a strong level of communication in times such as that of the pandemic.

Constant Addiction to use the platform for news and events information.

In addition to this, another crucial argument that can be made in relation to how the presence of social media platforms and the rapid dissemination of information allows for a strong impact on the society from a negative perspective is how it serves to be an addiction for the consumers to use the platform on a constant basis. The content on social media platforms is often available to the consumers without any moderation or regulation which means that there is a strong impact on any form of violence, abusive or disrespectful content that individuals are exposed to. Based on this, there is a strong possibility that during the times of an uncertain environment such as the pandemic, there is a possibility that certain segments of audience are highly vulnerable to the comments made by the consumers as compared to certain other segments of consumers (Savitri and Irwansyah, 2021). It becomes increasingly important to deal with such negative aspects that consumers are exposed to which is rather difficult due to the rapid information dissemination nature of social media platforms. An example of this is how the Chinese community or Asian community as a whole were responsible for the spread and initiation of the Covid-19 and were exposed to multiple racist as well as degrading comments by other communities from across the world. Aspects such as these are difficult to regulate within the social media platforms and hence serve to be against the use of the platform for the rapid spread of information during the current period (Savitri and Irwansyah, 2021).

Future Recommendations

It is also essential to note as to how despite of the multiple benefits that have been identified with the use of Instagram during the current period, the rapid dissemination of information, particularly in the appropriate forms has led to increased level of anxiety, panic and thereby the need for increased sustainable preventive measures to be able to curtail the presence of misinformation. Hence, further studies and research needs to be conducted within the domain of social media and its usage to understand how these platforms can be controlled to allow for free speech as well as to ensure that authentic content is made available to the communities (Savitri and Irwansyah, 2021).

The effective crisis and risk communication strategies are extremely crucial to ensure that the preventive measures that are being particularly taken during the time of the crisis are well implemented (Savitri and Irwansyah, 2021). Despite of this, the presence of abundant information in this current environment, makes it integral to understand how the information being provided to the consumers is rather filled with right quality. An example of this is how companies and institutions can ensure that they check the kind of content that is being circulated on these platforms using certain hashtags which provides a collective understanding of the various content that might be related to a central idea and how content that is not appropriate in any form can be controlled (Rathnayake and Suthers, 2021).

Concluding Statements

The focus of the paper has been to highlight how there is considerable support that can be provided towards the social media platform of Instagram in ensuring that individuals are able to receive the multiple benefits of using these platforms and can be provided with the relative support for ensuring that they are protect from any inaccurate or misrepresented content. The two major arguments, as highlighted in this conference paper and from the perspective of how social media can be used for the benefit of the audience relates to how it provides a platform for framing content that is customized for efficient understanding of the audience and secondly as to how it provides a strong forum for communication of integral information to the communities so that they can interact in the right manner. In response to these arguments as to why social media platforms are beneficial for information communication in the current environment, two arguments that have been made against the use of these platforms relate to how the rapid spread of information in an uncertain manner leads to disruption in the society such as protests and demonstration. The second argument against the use of these platforms is how they allow for decline in the quality of mental health that people experience when they are constantly exposed to such platforms during the time of a pandemic. These negative aspects that are associated with the use of social media platforms for information dissemination can be dealt using improved research which would help determine how social media content, if not controlled, can be regulated so that authentic content can be made available to the users. Lastly, the need to understand and identify how information can be framed using the right graphics and credibility to allow for higher credibility and reach the audience in a positive mindset.

References

Amundsen, O. M., Hoffart, A., Johnson, S. U., & Ebrahimi, O. V. (2021). Information Dissemination and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Relationship between Different Information Sources and Symptoms of Psychopathology.

Apuke, O. D., & Omar, B. (2021). Fake news and COVID-19: modelling the predictors of fake news sharing among social media users. Telematics and Informatics, 56, 101475.

Cato, S., Iida, T., Ishida, K., Ito, A., Katsumata, H., McElwain, K. M., & Shoji, M. (2021). The bright and dark sides of social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: Survey evidence from Japan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 54, 102034.’

Masciantonio, A., Bourguignon, D., Bouchat, P., Balty, M., & Rimé, B. (2021). Do not put all social network sites in one basket: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and their relations with well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Plos one, 16(3), e0248384.

Rathnayake, C., & Suthers, D. (2021, January). A link communities’ analysis of the UK Instagram Covid-19 searchable metadiscourse. In Proceedings of the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (p. 2946).

Savitri, S., & Irwansyah, I. (2021). The Use of Instagram Stories at the Age of COVID-19 Pandemic. Jurnal ASPIKOM, 6(1), 182-196.

Savitri, S., & Irwansyah, I. (2021). The Use of Instagram Stories at the Age of COVID-19 Pandemic. Jurnal ASPIKOM, 6(1), 182-196.