Minimizing COVID-19 Fatigue Through Social Media

Empirical Study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has become an important information and communication tool for individuals and organizations. At the same time, health organizations are striving to communicate clearly about the global health situation and recommended health actions being taken by countries around the world through social media. In addition, individuals tend to spend more time on social media activities as various governments around the world impose lockdown measures and social media users are more likely to use social networks to meet with their families and friends online, as they cannot physically gather during COVID-19 due to curfews. Therefore, individuals are expected to increase their use of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce anxiety, depression, and sadness (COVID-19 fatigue).

Social media fatigue through social media overload

However, previous studies also indicated that an increasing number of social media users lost interest to participate in social media activities because of encountering social media fatigue (SMF). SMF is defined as a situation whereby social media users suffer from mental exhaustion after experiencing various technological, informative, and communicative overloads through their participation and interactions on different online social media platforms. This means an individual is experiencing social media fatigue if it tends to withdraw from social media usage because of feeling overwhelmed by social media.

Investigating social media overload during the COVID-19 pandemic

Within this tandem project, AGYA members Dr. Dhoha AlSaleh and Prof. Dr. Marc Ringel conduct a survey  to investigate the antecedents of SMF during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine the consequences of social media overload on human’s behavior across different cultures. Furthermore, both AGYA members aim to add valuable theoretical and practical contributions to the area of social media services across different cultures. For example, the study provides new insights for scholars, practitioners, government, and public policy makers in Kuwait, Germany, and the U.S.A. along with recommendations for social media platforms on marketing their presence effectively during crises and pandemics.