How Different Uses of Social Media Inform Perceptions of Offline Social Norms and Changes in Vaccine Intentions

ABSTRACT

As the boundaries between our online and offline lives are increasingly blurred, it is important to attend to the ways in which online behaviors shape our offline perceptions and actions. While a great deal of health communication research has examined the effects of exposure to specific social media content, it is also important to investigate how broader patterns of everyday social media use may affect perceptions of health norms and behaviors in different ways. In this panel survey, we explored how using social media for informational, connection, and aspirational purposes affected perceptions of COVID-19 vaccination norms and changes in vaccine intentions between December 2020 and March 2021 in the US Using social media to seek information and to connect with others positively influenced vaccine intentions via strengthening perceptions of offline social norms supporting vaccination. These findings highlight how social media use is integrated with and informs our offline lives, as well as the important role apolitical social media use plays in shaping attitudes toward politicized science.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, S. C., upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2207284

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.