A new kind of Facebook feud
rounding social media has only increased during COVID-19,” Digital Third Coast said. “Despite a majority claiming social media causes more harm than good when it comes to getting COVID-19 information, usage has increased for two out of five respondents.”
To complete the survey, the marketing firm interviewed 2,030 people from April 28 to
30. The average age of respondents was 39, while 51% were male, and 49% were female.
Among political affiliations, 44% were Democrat, 30% were Republican, and 27% were independent.
Since the pandemic arrived in the U.S., Americans aren’t just engaging with news more, they’re also getting on social media more often. Of those surveyed, Digital Third Coast reported 66% said they were consuming more news, and
40% said their social media usage had increased. People were more likely to tune into Facebook to catch up on their news (49%) compared with Twitter (25%), Reddit (14%) and Instagram (12%).
At the same time, 69% said “social media causes more harm than good when it comes to getting accurate COVID-19 information.”
The public infighting between family members and friends might be a reflection of that.
According to the survey, at least 24% of respondents said they’d been in a fight with someone on social media over the virus. Another 21% said those fights were with friends or family members.
People aren’t, however, retaining much from all that news and media consumption, the survey found.
“When asked how many had tested positive for COVID-19, nearly 1 in 3 answered under 500,000. The real number of cases was 1 million at the time the survey was conducted,” Digital Third Coast reported. “In terms of the number of lives lost, 23% answered under 30,000. The real number was 58,000 at the time the survey was conducted.”
There does seem to be a consensus surrounding burnout from coronavirus news. According to the survey, at least 54% of respondents said they’d cut back on their news consumption to cope with myriad emotions — from anger to anxiety — resulting from COVID-19.
About one-third said they were avoiding watching the news entirely, Digital Third Coast reported, and more than half reported feeling overwhelmed, angry, hopeless or afraid. Most respondents said they were experiencing burnout (67%) or anxiety (68%).