The role of medical influencers on the social network Instagram in the development of social participation, a case study: the demand for a corona vaccine

Document Type : researcher

Author
Fatemeh Montazeri Hedeshi
Allame Tabatabaee
10.22034/scm.2024.178851
Abstract
This article examines the role of medical influencers on the social network Instagram in the development of social participation in the demand for the Corona vaccine. During crises, the influence of celebrities and social media influencers can be used in order to inform, educate and also the social participation of citizens. Social networks, especially the Instagram social network, played an important role in informing, educating and encouraging citizens in the process of social participation in order to demand a vaccine during the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease. The social network Instagram with its many features has provided the field of social participation of medical influencers in various formats. This article tries to explain the social participation of influencers by using theories such as: online participation, two-step flow of communication, social influence theory and also the theory of trans-social interaction. The research method used in this article is network ethnography. Sampling of this research has been done in a purposeful way and it has been tried to collect information through online observation and interpretation of content produced by influencers in the field of medicine.The results of this research show that the Instagram social network, due to its infrastructural capabilities and features, provides the social participation of medical influencers in the form of the facilities of this social network, and the audience interacts with medical influencers under the influence of their persuasion. They focus their attitude towards this group and play an important role in social participation to demand the corona vaccine.

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Society Culture Media
Volume 12, Issue 49
Winter 2024
Pages 95-124

  • Receive Date 19 April 2023
  • Revise Date 16 August 2023
  • Accept Date 09 September 2023