The effect of information and education through social networks on the level of public awareness during the COVID-19 epidemic(Case study: Tehran)

To investigate the effect of information and education through social networks in increasing awareness of the time of the outbreakof Covid19 andunderstanding the information needsof the people.

This isa descriptive-analytical survey witha practical purpose. 384 people were randomly selectedby cluster sampling from regions1,2,3,4,5,7,13,15,16,17,18,20and21.Sampling was done using Morgan tableand thedata were collected bya researcher-made questionnaire.The instrument was evaluatedwith thehelp of information science experts and the reliabilityof the instrument was calculated with Cronbach's alphacoefficient.The data collected in SPSS software were entered, coded and K2,Tand Friedman tests were used to analyze the data.

Manypeople inthe study consider theuse of social networks in information and education to increase public awareness tobe very effectivein the Covid19 epidemic.More than halfof the people consider the presence of these networks tobe influential in their lives andbelieve that these networks can be a good platform for information,education and awareness.Manyof them think that useful trainings andinformation are published in these networks.

People are interested inusing social media toget information, education and awareness of the corona19 andthey believethat they receive useful information and training from these networks,but they are moderately confident in this information.Someof the information thatis shared comes from other sources such as newssites, radioand television.etc.,and people also share thisinformation on social networks