Channels Adopted for Information Seeking during COVID-19: Comparing Social Media with News Media and Interpersonal Communication in Taiwan

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 29;19(15):9321. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159321.

Abstract

By adopting niche theory, this study compared social media with news media and interpersonal communication regarding their capabilities in satisfying people's information needs of daily use, surveillance, convenience, and information quality during the outbreak of COVID-19. Two methods were adopted to collect data for this study: the first was to conduct 20 intensive interviews, and the second was to administer an online survey by contracting a professional polling company with a panel of 8.8 million members. The stratified random sampling method was used to acquire a representative sample, from which 1100 valid questionnaires were obtained. The results showed that: (1) Social media were superior to traditional news media in terms of its convenience. However, several new types of online news, such as Yahoo news, were able to compete with social media for convenience. (2) Interpersonal communication did not outperform in satisfying individuals' needs for the four gratifications. Nevertheless, interpersonal communication plays the role of social support for individuals.

Keywords: COVID-19; gratification opportunities; gratifications obtained; information seeking; interpersonal communication; news media; niche theory; social media.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • Communication
  • Humans
  • Information Seeking Behavior
  • Mass Media
  • Social Media*
  • Taiwan / epidemiology

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Higher Education Sprout Project of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), the Ministry of Education of Taiwan, as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (grant number: MOST 110-2420-H-002-009-MY2 to S.-C.S.L.).