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

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 19; no. 15; p. 9321
• Main Authors: Li, Shu-Chu Sarrina, Wu, Tai-Yee, Zeng, Huai-Kuai, Lo, Shih-Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29.07.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Communication; Consumers; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Digital media; Disease transmission; Humans; Information retrieval; Information Seeking Behavior; Interpersonal communication; Mass Media; News media; Pandemics; Personal communication; Random sampling; Sampling methods; Social interactions; Social Media; Social networks; Statistical sampling; Surveillance; Taiwan - epidemiology; Taiwan; COVID-19; interpersonal communication; news media; information seeking; gratification opportunities; gratifications obtained; social media; niche theory
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19159321

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.