How Coronavirus Has Affected Social Media

When the COVID-19 outbreak occurred mid-March, the pandemic quickly became one of the most popular topics on the internet. This is largely due to nationwide stay-at-home orders in which many people are spending more time online. In fact, Twitter reported 164 million daily users this month, 23 percent more than the first quarter of 2019, according to AdAge. Social media analytics platform Sprinklr also reported a record of around 20 million mentions of COVID-19 related-terms on March 11. They confirmed to Recode, “For context on just how big that number is, mentions of the newly canceled NBA games were under 2 million and mentions of Trump were about 4 million on that day.”

Google’s search traffic revolving around “coronavirus” also reached maximum traffic at 100, a record-breaking score quantifying Google Trends in the month of March. “I haven’t seen anything like this,” says Simon Rogers, data editor on the News Lab team at Google. “People are not panic searching. People are looking for reliable info like, ‘How long should I wash my hands?’”  

This desire for information also explains the surge in popularity of Twitter, as it’s helped brands and consumers stay updated and connected in real-time. “Twitter's purpose is to serve the public conversation, and in these trying times our work has never been more critical,” said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a press statement. “We're seeing a meaningful increase in people using Twitter, and our teams are demonstrating incredible resilience adapting to this unprecedented environment. We'll continue to navigate this environment focusing on supporting our employees, customers, and partners, while strengthening our service for everyone around the world and adjusting to a new operating and economic environment.” 

However, while user numbers have increased, spending is down due to the economic casualties caused by the disease. As soon as Twitter announced they were retracting their previously positive quarterly forecast on Monday, March 20th, it was clear the industry was being heavily affected. 

In regards to social media, the advertising industry in general is experiencing a big hit from partners and clients pulling back on spending due to a possible recession in the near future. Influencer Patrick Janelle reports to Bloomberg, “Budgets from advertisers are going to be cut back significantly, and brands will go out of business,” speaking specifically about the influencer economy. “I do believe it will cause many individuals to look seriously for other sources of revenue”, Janelle explains due to the amount of layoffs, event cancellations, and plummeting stock prices brands are experiencing.

Still, more than ever, consumers are utilizing the internet to aid their fears, look up information and kill boredom with their emotions being at an all time high. This is especially true for younger generations, social media’s largest demographic. Spriklr reported, “The emoji most commonly associated with the coronavirus in the past month has been crying laughing, followed by crying loudly and a large red dot, used mainly in Latin America, Spain, and France to represent a warning. The medical face mask emoji was No. 5, after the hand pointing down.”

An optimistic view is that social media can be useful at a time when so many feel isolated and uncertain about what the future holds. Still, one must be careful of misinformation. Social media has created important channels for both information and misinformation, so research into what users are seeing is providing an interesting insight into consumer engagements with the pandemic. 

This is why The Center of Democracy and Technology (CDT) has asked platforms to track the content they’re removing so researchers can review how information posted affects the public’s overall health. “The importance of accurate information during this pandemic is clear. But knowledge about the novel coronavirus is rapidly evolving,” the group’s open letter states. 

This creates an “unprecedented opportunity” to study how online information can affect health outcomes and evaluate the consequences of specific moderation practices like using heavy automation. “Such studies rely on information that your companies control — including information you are automatically blocking and removing from your services. I?t is essential that platforms preserve this data,” the letter continues. Hopefully, this can help platforms promote accurate information during a time of such uncertainty.