Social Media Use During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study on Crisis Communication in the Municipality of Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

Abstract

COVID19 has brought huge effects on different fields including communication. The way people communicated at this time shifted to other communication platforms like social media. Issues, updates, and other information related to the pandemic were coursed through electronically. This study therefore explored how social media, specifically Facebook, was used as a crisis communication tool by the Municipality of Los Baños to govern during a crisis situation. It also determined how different the younger and older generation residents used social media during the pandemic. Guided by the Social Media Engagement Theory (Gangi and Wasko, 2016), a one-shot survey of 410 respondents was conducted. Results showed that the residents of Los Baños did not depend solely on the municipality's FB page as a primary tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the younger generation was deeply engaged in sharing announcements that served as their primary source of information during the crisis, as well as an informational tool during the pandemic. This implies that information that can instruct the residents was shared to increase awareness that would guide their actions. On the other hand, the older generation used social media as a tool for communication rather than a source of primary information. As a tool, social media was used to appease the residents of the locale where engagement albeit moderate saw its value in governance during a crisis. Lastly, variables including engagement, interaction, and involvement and participation can be considered as significant to measure SMET.