The Role of Social Media in Crisis Communication during COVID-19 Period

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause great impact on countries around the world. During this health crisis, political communication is crucial as the governments ability to govern is challenged and it needs to make timely decisions that will affect a large number of people based on the spread of the virus. COVID-19 is changing the way people interact with each other, and social media is playing a more important role in peoples social life than ever before. Due to its convenience in obtaining information and its widespread application, social media has become an important channel for the government and the public to participate in crisis management. From the perspective of social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) and media richness, this paper mainly analyzes the roles of social media in COVID-19 crisis communication from the aspects of communication efficiency, social solidarity, information epidemic and celebrity effects, thereby providing the government with recommendations for a more comprehensive understanding and employment of social media in COVID-19 crisis communication.