A Deep Dive Into the Effects of Social Media during the COVID-19 Pandemic
In collaboration with a Human Computer Interaction Researcher at the Rutgers School of Communication & Information, I explored how people use various social media platforms to cope with social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about the research process and findings below!
Overview
Over the course of three months, my team conducted a study which examines the interactional differences between exclusive and open social media platforms during a time when we are forced to self-isolate. Given the unprecedented situation that is COVID-19, we wanted to analyze exactly how people were coming together as communities and empowering each other through social media while social distancing.
We looked into three major social media platforms: Next Door, Facebook, and Twitter. This study scraped 28 sets of data from varying social media platforms and locations from the great New York City area. A few notable findings emerged from our grounded theory method of data analysis.
Qualitative Data Analysis
We used the grounded theory approach to analyze our data. Our approach includes a process of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding.
