Photographs, Visual Memes, and Viral Videos: Visual Phatic News Sharing on WhatsApp during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands

Figures & data

Figure 1. Viral video from the Netherlands, circulated heavily in WhatsApp groups (source video: Fake it or leave it YouTube channel, 16 December 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEWnqDZ799U).

Figure 2. Personal photograph by Maddalena (41, female, Italy) shared on WhatsApp.

Figure 3. Viral visual meme from Italy, circulated massively on WhatsApp.

Figure A1. Thematic map 1: Visual phatic news sharing for purposes of informational aid.

Figure A2. Thematic map 2: Visual phatic news sharing for purposes of emotional aid.

Figure A3. Thematic map 3: Visual phatic news sharing for purposes of companionship.

Table A1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the interviewees (10 Spain, 10 Italy, and 10 The Netherlands).

	Name	Gender	Age	Marital status	Living situation	Employment status	Level of studies	Type of work
Spain	Carmen	Female	36	Single or divorced	Living alone with kids (3)	Full time employment	PhD degree	University Professor
	Beatriz	Female	43	Single or divorced	Living as couple + kids (1)	Full time employment	Master degree	Nurse
	Jorge	Male	29	Single or divorced	Living as couple	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	English teacher
	Juan	Male	38	Single or divorced	Living with housemates	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	CEO at a start up
	Inés	Female	37	Partnership or married	Living as couple	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	Head of human resources
	Penélope	Female	35	Single or divorced	Living alone	Full time employment	Master degree	Marketing specialist
	Pedro	Male	37	Single or divorced	Living with parents	Full time employment	Bachelor Degree	Music composer
	Fernando	Male	41	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (1)	Full time employment	High school degree	Sous chef
	Ignacio	Male	38	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (2)	Full time employment	Master degree	Mediator of citizen policies
	Marisol	Female	38	Single or divorced	Living alone	Full time employment	Master degree	Digital marketer
Italy	Carla	Female	40	Single or divorced	Living alone	Part time employment	Master degree	Elementary school teacher
	Angelo	Male	44	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (1)	Full time employment	Master degree	Journalist
	Antonella	Female	38	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (1)	Unemployed	Bachelor degree
	Giovanni	Male	33	Single or divorced	Living with housemates	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	Social worker
	Carlo	Male	44	Partnership or married	Living as couple	Full time employment	Master degree	Communication specialist
	Gaia	Female	43	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (1)	Full time employment	Master degree	Architect
	Maddalena	Female	41	Partnership or married	Living with partner/married	Full time employment	PhD degree	School teacher
	Simona	Female	42	Partnership or married	Living alone	Full time employment	Master degree	High school teacher
	Luigi	Male	43	Partnership or married	Living with partner/married	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	Chef
	Alessio	Male	46	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (1)	Unemployed	Master degree
The Nether-lands	Sander	Male	39	Partnership or married	Living with partner/married	Part time employment	Bachelor degree	Pastor (in training)
	Lisa	Female	49	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (1)	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	Shop manager
	Maaike	Female	42	Partnership or married	Living with partner/married	Full time employment	Master degree	Spokesperson
	Anouk	Female	34	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (2)	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	Communication specialist
	Michiel	Male	37	Partnership or married	Living with partner/married	Full time employment	PhD degree	University Professor
	Tom	Male	41	Partnership or married	Living as couple + kids (1)	Full time employment	Master degree	Digital strategist
	Matthijs	Male	27	Partnership or married	Living with partner/married	Full time employment	Master degree	Communication strategist
	Floor	Female	30	Single or divorced	Living with housemates	Full time employment	Master degree	Nurse
	Jennifer	Female	25	Single or divorced	Living alone	Full time employment	Bachelor degree	Lawyer
	Roos	Female	35	Single or divorced	Living alone	Full time employment	Master degree	Medical healthcare professional

Table A2. Most significant media types in visual phatic news sharing on WhatsApp.

	Groningen	Barcelona	Milan
	68 image and 7 videos/GIFs	33 images and 30 videos/GIFs	50 images and 9 videos/GIFs
Visual meme	17	16	21
Comic	2	2	2
GIF	4	2	1
Other (e.g., illustration)	1	1	2
Personal still image (personal photograph)	16	3	17
Screenshot Facebook	0	3	0
Screenshot Instagram	2	3	1
Screenshot online news article	1	1	1
Screenshot online “fake news article”	0	1	0
Screenshot Snapchat	2	0	0
Screenshot television news	1	0	1
Screenshot Twitter	13	1	3
Screenshot website/app (on phone)	1	1	2
Text messages, often embedded visuals (e.g., a selfie)	12	1	0
Video	3	28	8

In our interviews, we also learned of other media types for news-related visual communication in the lockdown period, but these were not identified by our participants as most significant for visual phatic news sharing. An example is the sharing of stickers beyond family/friends, such as with journalists when using WhatsApp for work. For instance, one of our interviewees is a press officer who repeatedly shares a self-made sticker on WhatsApp by way of telling “no comment” to a known journalist in a light-hearted way. Another example is the increased use of certain types of emojis during the lockdown (as for instance described by Pedro, 37, male, Spain: “During the crisis I increased a lot the using of the [emoticon] the mask”).