Religious Ambience on Social Media: A Case Study in A Pandemic Situation

Paranjoy Bordoloi

Abstract

Social media has been crucially important today in the pandemic situation. This work is rooted in key questions: whether social media consumption increases during a pandemic and does the communicative action of social media target religious ambience? The findings show that the flow of messages has increased on social media platforms during pandemic. However, the communicative action of social media is not targeted toward religious ambience. This work is based on data collected through a qualitative survey in the context of Assam, a state of India. The study concludes the communicative action of social media depends on its users' profiles. Users’ profile is perhaps the determining factor regarding religious ambience on social media.

Keywords

Religious Ambience; Social Media; Pandemic; Covid-19

Full Text:

PDF

References

Afzal, H. S., Aziz, N., Waseem, M., Kamal, Z., Jamil, A. Z., &Iqba, M. J. (2020). The Role Of A Whatsapp Clinical Discussion Group In The Clinical Management Of Covid-19 Cases: An Experience Of Tertiary Care Hospitals In Punjab, Pakistan. (2020). Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal, (COVID-19 (2)), S539. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A636057786/AONE?u=ussd&sid=AONE&xid=0a3a0b50

Alexander, D.E. (2013). Social media in disaster risk reduction and crisismanagement. Science and Engineering Ethics, 20(3), 717-733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-013-9502-z

Ameen, S., & Praharaj, S. (2020). Problems in using WhatsApp groups for survey research. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(3), 327. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A624394291/AONE?u=ussd&sid=AONE&xid=2864018b

Ansari, J.A.N., Khan, N.A. Exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning, the new domain of learning. Smart Learn. Environ. 7, 9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7

Busting Myths: Newspapers do not spread Covid-19, they are safe. (2020, March 24.). Economic times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/newspapers-not-covid-19-carriers-say-top-scientists/articleshow/74784386.cms?from=mdr

Gao, J., Zheng, P., Jia, Y., Chen, H., Mao, Y., Chen, S., et al. (2020). Mental health problems and social media exposure during the COVID-19 outbreak. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0231924. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231924

Greene. (2020). April 6th. Whatapp-the-fbi-s-worst-nightmare.html. Network World. https://www.networkworld.com/article/3052229.

Jain, R. (2020). Covid-19: How fake news and Modi government messaging fueled India’s latest spiral of Islamophobia.https://scroll.in/article/959806

Kumar, N.& Sharma, S. (2017). Survey Analysis on the usage and Impact of Whatsapp Messenger. Global Journal of Enterprise Information System. 8. 52. 10.18311/gjeis/2016/15741.

Lu, Y., Ray, R., Ha, L., & Chen, P. (2020). Social Media News Consumption and Opinion Polarization on China's Trade Practices: Evidence from a U.S. National Survey. International journal of communication [Online], 3478+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632441943/AONE?u=ussd&sid=AONE&xid=5826389a.

Madianou, M. (2005). Contested Communicative Spaces: Rethinking Identities, Boundaries and the Role of the Media among Turkish Speakers in Greece. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 521_/541

Minhas, G. (2020. In times of Corona, think twice before forwarding social media posts. GovernanceNow.https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619958138/ITOF?u=ussd&sid=ITOF&xid=536ee723.

Nah, S., & Chung, D. S. (2016). Communicative Action and Citizen Journalism: A Case Study of OhmyNews in South Korea. International journal of communication [Online],2297+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A595027039/AONE?u=ussd&sid=AONE&xid=924f8e244

CNN.org. (2020). India's Muslims feel targeted by rumors they're spreading Covid-19. Retrieved on 2020, April 24 at CNN. www.cnn.org

Roy, S. (2020).INS demands a package for print media in the face of unprecedented coronavirus crisis. Retrieved on 17 April 2020 at www.deccanherald.com/business/ins-demands-package-for-print-media-in-the-face-of-unprecedented-coronavirus-crisis- 824547.

Sell, T. K., Hosangadi, D., &Trotochaud, M. (2020). Misinformation and the US Ebola communication crisis: Analyzing the veracity and content of social media messages related to a fear-inducing infectious disease outbreak. BMC Public Health, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08697-3

Thakuria, N. (2020). Can Indian Newspapers Survive the Covid-19 Pandemic! Retrieved on 5 April 2020 at https://indianprinterpublisher.com

Thacker, T. (2020). Busting Myths: Newspapers do not spread Covid-19, they are safe. Retrieved on 24th March 2020. At https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/newspapers-not-covid-19-carriers-say-top-scientists/articleshow/74784386.cms?from=mdr

Article Metrics

Abstract views: 1036 PDF views: 540