The new Face(book) of medicine

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical providers (MPs) turned to social media platforms as an opportunity to interact with colleagues and provide education to patients. When the pandemic flooded social network services (SNSs), such as Facebook, with a great deal of information, both accurate and dubious, MPs continued using SNSs to share information and updates about the infodemic (as defined by the World Health Organization). This study explores how MPs engaged in education and advice giving on Facebook during the early months of the pandemic. For this study, a total of 572 Facebook posts about COVID-19 were collected from the Facebook pages of three medical doctors between 1 January and 15 July, 2020. A total of 79 posts were analyzed, focusing on how advice was discursively constructed. The strategies analyzed included creating a light-hearted tone through moments of levity and making advice more indirect through pronoun shifts and framing devices. We argue that medical providers likely soften the force of advice because of the public/professional confluence that exists on Facebook; this approach may also make the advice more palatable. This study highlights possible implications for current MPs and aid in their overall training.