Engagement on Social Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison among Healthcare Professionals, Fitness Influencers, and Healthy Food Influencers

Abstract

One of the most far-reaching repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic is a rise in the usage of social networks. Aside from conventional media as the primary drivers of social communication in crisis circumstances, professional profiles in social networks have arisen, also having more influencers. This is the premise of the presented research, which is concentered on health communication and employs a virtual ethnography approach with the use of social metrics. The purpose is to understand the relationship between the people in general and digital media in particular by measuring engagement. This study was conducted for explains the comparison between two social networks: YouTube and Instagram, in the period between November 2019 and May 2021, with a sample consisting of specialist healthcare professionals, fitness influencers, and healthy food influencers. The findings indicate a new communications model that creates a new arena for influencers/professionals whose content has a higher level of engagement than traditional communication. Moreover, this study also showed that the pandemic crisis hastened the change of the communication sector. For instance, posing a new strategy for the communication business, creation a new content style for media professionals/influencers, and attract more users in terms of know the market need.