Information consumption in social networks during the Covid-19’s crisis in Spain

Authors

  • Carmen María López-Rico Miguel Hernández University
  • José Luis González-Esteban Miguel Hernández University
  • Alberto Hernández-Martínez Keyrus Spain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35669/rcys.2020.10(2).461-481

Keywords:

COVID-19, social networks, whatsApp, fake news, health information, fact checkers, information consumption

Abstract

Introduction: The Covid-19 pandemic has brought social changes, also affecting communication. The use of social networks has increased during the confinement and the way of informing us through them or instant messaging such as WhatsApp have led to the viralization of hoaxes. Methodology: Through a pioneering survey during the confinement, we have collected more than 1700 responses that have been analyzed with machine learning techniques to learn how the Spanish have been informed during the confinement and how they have interacted with the information they received about the Covid- 19. In addition, we have participated in meetings with the founding partners of Maldita, a pioneer verifier in Spain, who has carried out fundamental work in detecting fake news during the pandemic. Results: The results show different behaviors in the use of social networks, especially at different ages: why they share information; if they doubt her; what kind of hoaxes have they received; what types of contacts do they receive most often, etc. Conclusions: Different profiles of information consumers are appreciated, some more aware of the reliability of the networks, who also verify the dubious content and another that is reported in a more superficial way and that does not verify the information that comes through these online channels.

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Author Biographies

Carmen María López-Rico, Miguel Hernández University

Professor of the Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and the Joint Degree in Audiovisual Communication and Journalism at the Miguel Hernández University, where she teaches professional ethics and deontology, political communication, theory and history of journalism and organization of news companies. She was a visiting professor at the Autonomous University of Baja California in Mexico, where she conducted several research studies on the USA 2016 campaign. She holds a PhD in Journalism (2012) from Miguel Hernández University, focusing on the analysis of political pluralism in the public television channels RTVE and RTVV during the 2011 general and regional elections. Consequently, his research career has focused on Political Communication, disseminating his work in national and international congresses, as well as in books, chapters and articles in impact journals.

José Luis González-Esteban, Miguel Hernández University

Professor of Journalism at the University Miguel Hernández where he also serves as Deputy Vice Chancellor for International Relations. He teaches Political Communication and Public Opinion, in the degree of Journalism, also in the Master of Innovation in Journalism and in the Doctoral program of Social and Legal Sciences of the UMH. In the research facet, he has two six-year research periods focusing his research lines on the processes of transformation of journalism and politics, and has published more than fifty articles in scientific journals, books, etc.. He has also taught and carried out research stays in North American, Latin American and European universities. As a journalist he worked for 15 years as an editor in the newspaper La Verdad (Vocento group).

Alberto Hernández-Martínez, Keyrus Spain

Degree in Economics from the University of Alicante, in addition to an executive program in Big Data & Business Analytics from Fundesem Business School. He obtained the scholarship for the UniMOOC Project (First Spanish Mooc) which was sponsored by Google and Santander Bank. He is a certified Alteryx professional, specialized in Free Machine Machine Learning; Data Science; Predictive Modeling and Visual Analytics.

He is currently a Senior Consultant in Statistics and Data Management and has worked in several multinational companies in different industries such as Tourism, Healthcare, FMCG, etc. He has developed and implemented innovative revenue systems based on complex data analysis. He is focused on providing valuable data insights and creative solution to improve decisions with a data-driven approach.

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Published

2020-11-14

How to Cite

López-Rico, Carmen María, José Luis González-Esteban, and Alberto Hernández-Martínez. 2020. “Information consumption in social networks during the Covid-19’s crisis in Spain”. Revista de Comunicación y Salud 10 (2):461-81. https://doi.org/10.35669/rcys.2020.10(2).461-481.