Most Common Social Media Platforms in Saudi Arabia for Sharing COVID-19 Medical Information

INTRODUCTION: This study is a quantitative analysis of the most commonly used social media platforms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among health care workers (HCWs) and non-HCWs (NHCWs) for sharing medical information pertaining to protective measures against COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: An online survey was administered during the first 3 months of COVID-19 lockdown in Saudi Arabia. The sample size of the study was 1,249, including 275 HCWs and 974 NHCWs. RESULTS: The findings show that WhatsApp is the most used social media platform in Saudi Arabia, followed by Twitter. Popular social media sites among HCWs are Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Telegram, and Twitter. Future researchers might investigate how HCWs assess the validity, trust, and reliability of information on social media platforms. CONCLUSION: This study has implications for how to effectively disseminate information through social media platforms based on health care specialty and demographics.