Health Information-Seeking Behavior on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Media Usage by Gen Z in Jakarta, Indonesia

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The increasing number of confirmed cases and deaths have escalated public fear about becoming infected, presenting a psychological trauma. During this condition, citizens have turned to internet as a mediating tool for communicating primary sources of information. The aim of this study is to explore how Generation Z in Jakarta using the internet, especially social media, for seeking health information during a pandemic. This study uses GoggleForm in May 2020. The number of respondents is 278 people. The major respondents were female (65.8%) and 86.7% were high school and university students. The result showed that almost all respondents (95.5%) required information regarding COVID-19 with different intensities and 91% continued to search the information. The most information sources were social media and news website. The social media platform frequently used are Instagram, Line, Twitter dan Youtube. The duration in accessing information was less than one hour. The respondents (44.5%) felt doubt regarding the validity of information received. However, they re-checked the information when they feel doubt.