Audience perspectives of COVID-19 information centre on Facebook

COVID-19 pandemic has forced the most intelligent animal on the earth to get into a quarantined state by maintaining social distance among them to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. Human civilization had faced similar kinds of pandemics in the past, but virtual networking was not prevalent, unlike today. While the global crisis forced everyone to remain indoor, social media platforms, especially Facebook, came in to rescue the homebound people to continue fulfilling their social needs. Facebook had even gone a step further to stop spreading fake and unauthorized information by opening up a forum linked with internationally recognized health and welfare organizations to communicate and disseminate authentic information through the ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) information centre’ on Facebook. The research attempts to emphasize the features and the process of gratification users have towards the ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) information centre’ to analyse the impact of Facebook on spreading awareness about COVID-19. It will also highlight how various audiences are reciprocating the newly added feature and whether ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Centre’ on Facebook is considered as a valuable information source during the pandemic. Further, the study attempts to find out whether the information on Facebook on COVID-19 is motivating people to take positive actions in favour of preventing the spread of the virus and also encourage people to stay quarantined to prevent further contamination.

The study aims to help social media practitioners in improving their communication during a global crisis to their audience. It also explores the audience's perspective towards information available on social media for communication experts to verify and deliver information effectively.