Use of Social Media as a Health Seeking Behaviour: Looking Into Covid-19 Related Social Media Posts on Facebook During The Measures of Isolation, Lockdown and Social Distance

The study aims to demonstrate how health seeking is reflected in users’ posts and comments in Covid-19-themed groups on Facebook as a social media platform, under the conditions of isolation, lockdown and social distance in the Covid-19 process. In this scope, the study examined Facebook groups: The Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Exchange and Cooperation-Turkey, The Covid-19 Information Sharing Platform, and The Information and Solidarity Platform for Those Diagnosed with Covid-19 Turkey. 600 posts and comments were selected using the random sampling technique and analysed using descriptive method content analysis technique. This was conducted through a coding layout developed by the researchers based on field research (92.95% reliability) and showed that the participants mainly shared emotional support posts and comments that included good wishes/consolation/prayer/thanks (35.3%) and asked questions about the Covid-19 experience/treatment (41.3%) process for information. The posts differed by gender and 86.3% of them received comments. Finally, a word cloud was created using Python, and the overall distribution of the posts and comments was determined. The study demonstrates that digital channels and social networks are used for emotional support and as a source in seeking health information despite having problems such as causing the paradox of fear, issues of confidentiality, and a low confidence level.