Evaluation of Turkish Videos about Coronavirus on Youtube: An Infodemiology Study

Abstract

Introduction: Videos with informative content about COVID-19 can be useful in controlling the spread of the pandemic. However, vid- eos containing false information can cause an infodemic, making it difficult to control the infection. In order to deal with the infodemic, it is necessary to detect the misleading videos on Youtube. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the characteristics and contents of Turkish videos about coronavirus on Youtube. Materials and Methods: 1868 Turkish videos about coronavirus on the Youtube website were evaluated. The characteristics of videos such as the name, length, number of views, number of likes and dislikes of the video, number of comments made to the video, date of the video's release, channel that posted the video, upload source of the video were examined. In addition, total coronavirus information score (CIS) and video power index (VPI) were calculated for each video. Results: The total number of views of 1868 Turkish videos about coronavirus was 160.179.962. Median coronavirus information score of the videos was 1.00 (min-max: 0-6) (out of 6). 74.6% of videos (n= 1394) were informative, 4.1% (n= 77) contain misleading content and these misleading videos have been viewed 14.425.386 times in total. There was no healthcare professional in 48.8% (n= 912) of the videos. Videos about coronavirus without healthcare professionals are shorter in duration, higher in the number of views, and the coronavirus information score is lower (p< 0.001). Conclusion: Turkish videos about coronavirus on Youtube had a high number of views and the majority of them were informative. However, the COVID-19 information content of the videos were very low, and almost half of these health-related videos did not include healthcare professionals. Although there were few Turkish videos with misleading content about the coronavirus, they were viewed millions of times.