Cross-Verification of COVID-19 Information Obtained From Unofficial Social Media Accounts and Associated Changes in Health Behaviors: Web-Based Questionnaire Study Among Chinese Netizens

Abstract

Background As social media platforms have become significant sources of information during the pandemic, a significant volume of both factual and inaccurate information related to the prevention of COVID-19 has been disseminated through social media. Thus, disparities in COVID-19 information verification across populations have the potential to promote the dissemination of misinformation among clustered groups of people with similar characteristics. Objective This study aimed to identify the characteristics of social media users who obtained COVID-19 information through unofficial social media accounts and were (1) most likely to change their health behaviors according to web-based information and (2) least likely to actively verify the accuracy of COVID-19 information, as these individuals may be susceptible to inaccurate prevention measures and may exacerbate transmission. Methods An online questionnaire consisting of 17 questions was disseminated by West China Hospital via its official online platforms, between May 18, 2020, and May 31, 2020. The questionnaire collected the sociodemographic information of 14,509 adults, and included questions surveying Chinese netizens’ knowledge about COVID-19, personal social media use, health behavioral change tendencies, and cross-verification behaviors for web-based information during the pandemic. Multiple stepwise regression models were used to examine the relationships between social media use, behavior changes, and information cross-verification. Results Respondents who were most likely to change their health behaviors after obtaining web-based COVID-19 information from celebrity sources had the following characteristics: female sex (P=.004), age ≥50 years (P=.009), higher COVID-19 knowledge and health literacy (P=.045 and P=.03, respectively), non–health care professional (P=.02), higher frequency of searching on social media (P<.001), better health conditions (P<.001), and a trust rating score of more than 3 for information released by celebrities on social media (P=.005). Furthermore, among participants who were most likely to change their health behaviors according to social media information released by celebrities, female sex (P<.001), living in a rural residence rather than first-tier city (P<.001), self-reported medium health status and lower health care literacy (P=.007 and P<.001, respectively), less frequent search for COVID-19 information on social media (P<.001), and greater level of trust toward celebrities’ social media accounts with a trust rating score greater than 1 (P≤.04) were associated with a lack of cross-verification of information. Conclusions The findings suggest that governments, health care agencies, celebrities, and technicians should combine their efforts to decrease the risk in vulnerable groups that are inclined to change health behaviors according to web-based information but do not perform any fact-check verification of the accuracy of the unofficial information. Specifically, it is necessary to correct the false information related to COVID-19 on social media, appropriately apply celebrities’ star power, and increase Chinese netizens’ awareness of information cross-verification and eHealth literacy for evaluating the veracity of web-based information.

Perceptions of exercise and exercise instruction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and sarcopenia : a qualitative study

“…Additionally, people’s use of social media increased significantly during the Corona-virus disease 2019 pandemic. However, experts’ advice was the most positive source of information [ 28 ], and although social media can be used to disseminate health improvement measures and promote the adoption of healthier behaviour patterns [ 29 ], information on social media is sometimes misleading [ 28 ]. Limited health information and/or online literacy may lead to misunderstanding when assessing medical data on the web [ 30 ], which can influence individuals to make harmful or counterproductive behavioural changes.…”

Insights Into the Relationships Between Health Communication and Doctor-patient Relationship: A Scientometric Analysis Based on CiteSpace and Validation of Questionnaires

“… 43 Even netizens with high health literacy may lack e-health literacy. 44 Different diseases often have similar symptoms, and if the diagnosis searched by patients with one of their symptoms is wrong, it is bound to be ineffective to obtain the relevant knowledge of the “disease”. Some platforms allow non-professional individuals to upload information, 45 there are differences in the quality of different social media information, 46 and there may be pseudo-health information.…”

Psychological experience of Juvenile patients’ parents in Fangcang shelter hospital during the Omicron wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai, China: a qualitative study

“…Additionally, it is necessary to guide parents not to believe reports about sequelae from unknown sources on the Internet blindly and refer to information from sufficient scientific evidence [44,45]. (3) In terms of the social acceptance of COVID-19 infection, infectivity of recovered COVID-19 patients and relapse cases should be publicly declared; however, this results in the same problem of resuming work and study as the original infection.…”