The Social Media Usage by Citizens of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region During Coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19)

This study looked on social media usage by the internet users in the Kurdistan region pf Iraq during Coronavirus pandemic (Covid 19), which became a global crisis for several months. This study examines the perception of people about the health awareness campaign, which started during the quarantine in the region from March14 to April 10, 2020. The study adopted a survey method through an online questionnaire using ‘google forms’ (N= 524) with responses from adults aged 18 and over. The research found that the majority of the respondents trust the preventive instructions regarding the disease and these instructions affected them to alter their daily health behavior, however, a small percentage of them believe that the government is completely capable to face the crisis. The findings also revealed that social media platforms’ users were not engaged in the campaign actively since only a small minority of them have contributed in “liking, posting, and sharing relevant information on these platforms.