News Sharing on Social Media during Health Crises: Between Awareness Raising and Misinformation to Promote the Role of Facebook in Health Education

Abstract

Facebook is a platform used for sharing news and information unceasingly, mainly the societal issues, including the health issues and crises. In this regard, some news are facts, others are fake, while others are partially true. Since Facebook takes much of our time and is an integral part of our routines, it directly affects our perceptions and view of events through its educational, and most of the time misleading, news. Amateurs who have no relations with official parties or media agencies manage most of the pages and accounts. Therefore, we question the credibility of news and information shared on such pages. Since information on public health is very sensitive, it is virally spread on social media regardless its reliability. Thus, it is necessary to shed light on the method of news and information sharing on Facebook to find out its advantages and gaps. Based on what was said, this paper provides suggestions to rationalize the use of Facebook in dealing with health issues and improve the quality of shared news to maintain the health security and citizens’ safety. Besides, the paper goes beyond the theoretical information to suggesting practical measures that facilitate the process of examining the truth of the health news before sharing them and influencing the users who lack information and health awareness, taking some Facebook medical pages as examples.