Infodemic on social media : an analysis of egyptians' information behaviors during covid-19

Abstract EN

The purpose of this study is to investigate Egyptians' information behaviors on social media during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

The study adopted a survey method approach.

The data were collected from a random sample of 225 respondents, focuses on how Egyptians deal with misleading information and fake news.

The findings showed that 83.6% of respondents have faced fake news about the COVID-19 pandemic on social media.

Besides, their information consumption rates were at a high peak, especially on the Facebook platform.

The respondents revealed positive behaviors towards fake news, but their activities average very high, especially from unspecialized people, which may create an Infodemic.

The study also investigated the differences in behaviors between the population using Person' Chi-Square test.

The findings showed that males have a positive behavior towards the information they share better than females.

However, the findings reported that there was a low activity of people working in medical and information sectors, the study considered this more awareness from their side as they know how valuable information is.

The value of the study lies in being the first study that provides deep insight into Egyptians' information behaviors on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic.