Covid19 – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Social Media!

Babs Omotowa Covid-19 has been an unprecedented human and economic disaster for this generation, with over 5.3-million infected, 340,000...

Babs Omotowa

Covid-19 has been an unprecedented human and economic disaster for this generation, with over 5.3-million infected, 340,000 dead and trillions of dollars of losses by May 24th. Whilst the numbers are still continuing to rise, it would seem that the world has passed the peak of daily infection, and many nations are gradually starting up the economy and social life, but with a keen eye to manage the restart, so as to avoid or minimize a resurgence (2nd wave) which will be hugely devastating.

Efforts are progressing with developing vaccine and cure, with trials started on several candidates across the world including Moderna (USA), Oxford University/Astra Zeneca (UK), CanSino (China), BioNTech/Pfizer (Germany), Sanofi/GSK (France), Johnson & Johnson (USA). Success with cure or vaccine is hugely anticipated as a game-changer, that will enable the world return to “normality”.

The lockdown that has been in place across the world since March has played a significant role in helping to slow down infection rates and flatten the curve. A fallout of the stay-at-home, has been the trend, of significant increased usage of social media globally. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Zoom, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Hosueparty, etc.) has been abuzz and used for educational, entertainment and connectivity during the period.

This has brought out the good, the bad and the ugly in the use of Social Media.    

The Good
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-     Increased usage of video-conferencing for meetings (boards, committees, employees) with growth of Zoom daily meeting participants from 10-million to 300-million. This may see many organizations review their travel strategy and help drive cost reduction.
-     Education on coronavirus; spread in countries, strategies being used (e.g. herd immunity, no lockdown), countries handling better (infection and death rates) and how countries opening up. This has enabled benchmarking, questioning and lateral learning (e.g. UK now piloting Track and Trace App that South Korea found useful for testing speed in exiting lockdown).
-     Education on progress with vaccines and cures being developed across the world, and the timeline for when they may be ready and how they may help the world to return to normalcy. This has included latest information on how long (duration) vaccines may be effective for.  
-     Support in record time for many good causes have been enabled by social media including Captain Tom Moore raising $31million (original target $1.5k) for UK Health Service (NHS).
-      Sharing of experience by those who have recovered from Covid and also by doctors and nurses via WhatsApp videos, Facebook, etc. This has helped to reassure the public.

The Bad
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-     Wide dissemination of urban legends such as that 5G is the cause of Coronavirus. This has led in some cases to arson on masts and attacks on technicians. It is good to see that social media platforms like Facebook are starting to take down some of these articles.
-     Conspiracy theories (scaremongering?) including that vaccine will include implantable digital certificates as a mark of the beast and anti-Christ being pushed by Bill Gates as a new world order to track and invade people’s privacy. Some even say vaccine is to be used to reduce the world population, as if vaccines are a new concept in the world.
-     Misinformation by all manners of people pretending to be experts including that malaria causes more death than covid19 as a way to antagonize controls being put in place. IHME Global Bureau of Diseases data shows malaria causes 1,700 deaths a day (WHO reported 585,000 in 2010 and 405,000 in 2018), whereas in May, Covid caused 4,500 deaths a day.
-     Old unrelated videos been regurgitated and pushed out erroneously including people falling over and collapsing on the street in a zombie like manner and erroneously linked to coronavirus or a video of animals on a street being pushed as Russian president unleashing 500 wild animals to enforce stay at home. Contagion film (2011) shared as evidence that coronavirus pandemic was all planned.

The Ugly
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-     Videos on treatment of blacks in some Chinese province (Guangzhou), being ejected out of their homes and hotels, denied entry to restaurants (e.g. Macdonald), stores and hospitals. There is also video of museum in China, depicting blacks next to animals. These are totally unacceptable acts by some in China and the Chinese Government must address the issues. Whilst condemnation is in order, the world must prevent any retaliation or mistreatment of Chinese citizens living outside China, as it will simply be wrong.
-     Asians were in some case being picked upon in Western countries and videos made of them being attacked by those who blame them for the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the videos are sickening and should be deleted from social media.

Social media has indeed brought significant benefits during this pandemic especially for education and connectivity, but one needs to remain cautious of many of the information being circulated, to cross-check the fact before believing or passing on such information to others. Reminds me of book I read few years ago, “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling on Ten Reasons we are wrong about the world.

What examples have you seen during this period that have either been good, bad or ugly of social media?

Babs Omotowa