Utilizing social media for community risk communication in megacities: analysing the impact of WeChat group information interaction and perception on communication satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai

Abstract

Background Against the backdrop of the global public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant disparities in the supply and demand of risk information related to public health crises, posing severe challenges to risk governance in megacities. Shanghai, China, introduced community WeChat groups for community communication, effectively facilitating the dissemination and response of grassroots information and providing a new path for interactive governance in the community. Methods This study collected 1006 questionnaires from residents of 350 communities in Shanghai through an online survey between June 10 and July 10, 2022. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to examine the impact of different participants (including the community, core residents, and the combined community and core residents) on community risk communication, perceived communication quality, and dissemination themes related to COVID-19 on community communication satisfaction. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 core residents from different types of communities, focusing on the specific methods of risk communication through community WeChat groups and their ability to disseminate information, respond to, and solve problems. Results Perceived information coverage and perceived response efficiency are significantly positively correlated with communication satisfaction. Notably, the speed of community information response has the greatest impact on communication satisfaction. Regarding COVID-19-related information dissemination themes, “community outbreaks, supplies, nucleic acids, outbreak prevention measures, and scientific content” all have a significant impact on communication effectiveness, with “nucleic acid testing information” having the greatest impact. Although the statistical data indicate that the participation of core residents in risk communication does not significantly affect communication satisfaction, it seems to be related to the size of the community, and the interview results further validate this conclusion. Conclusion In the future, grassroots communities should consider the affordances of social media, recognize the significant correlation between risk communication and grassroots trust, and formulate more detailed and targeted risk communication strategies. In particular, incorporating core residents into “semiformal” grassroots organizations can improve community service quality, thereby enhancing community resilience in the face of public health emergencies.