Infodemiological Study of Persian Instagram Posts During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Journal of Medical Library and Information Science,
Vol. 7 No. 7 (2026),
6 May 2026
https://doi.org/10.22037/jmlis.v7i7.51878
Abstract
Introduction: Infodemiology examines the distribution and determinants of health information in digital environments. Social media platforms, particularly Instagram, played a substantial role in disseminating COVID-19–related information during the pandemic. This study aims to conduct an infodemiological analysis of Persian-language Instagram posts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: This retrospective study employed a combined qualitative screening and quantitative descriptive analysis approach. The study population consisted of 2,000 publicly available Persian-language Instagram posts retrieved using the hashtags “Corona” and “COVID-19.” Posts were selected through Instagram’s “Top Posts” sorting function available at the time of data extraction. For each hashtag, the first 1,000 posts were collected. Data collection was conducted between November 6 and December 6, 2021. Three reviewers independently screened all retrieved posts for relevance to COVID-19, and discrepancies were resolved through consensus. Duplicate posts identified during the retrieval process were manually excluded. Relevant posts were archived using coded screenshots due to Instagram storage limitations. Data extracted from each post included content format, publication location, whether content creator identification information was available in the post or account, and, when available, the content creator’s professional background. For posts in which the content creator’s professional background could be identified, professions were classified as medically relevant or non-medically relevant. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS and Excel, with descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages.
Results: Of the 2,000 posts analyzed, 72.1% were unrelated to the specified hashtags or the COVID-19 disease. Among the 558 relevant posts, 83.51% used an image-caption format. The publication location was unspecified in 74.91% of these posts. Furthermore, 90.68% lacked identifying information about the content creator, and 51.43% did not mention the creator’s professional background within the post or account.
Conclusion: A small proportion of the examined Instagram posts contained relevant COVID-19 information, and most lacked transparent authorship and professional attribution, limiting the ability to assess information quality. These findings highlight the need for improved health information governance in social media environments. Medical librarians, especially in hospital libraries and public libraries, as key stakeholders in health information management, can play an essential role in evidence-based content evaluation, curation, and dissemination in digital ecosystems. Strengthening their involvement alongside health systems may enhance the quality and reliability of online health information.
- Infodemiology
- Social media
- Covid-19
How to Cite
References
1. Eysenbach G. Infodemiology: The epidemiology of (mis)information. Am J Med. 2002;113(9):763-5. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9343(02)01473-0
2. Eysenbach G. Infodemiology and infoveillance tracking online health information and cyberbehavior for public health. Am J Prev Med. 2011;40(5 Suppl 2):S154-8. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2011.02.006
3. Borges do Nascimento IJ, Pizarro AB, Almeida JM, Azzopardi-Muscat N, Gonçalves MA, Björklund M, Novillo-Ortiz D. Infodemics and health misinformation: a systematic review of reviews. Bull World Health Organ. 2022;100(9):544-561. doi: 10.2471/BLT.21.287654
4. Haghighi R, Farhadloo M. Quality Assessment of Health Information on Social Media During a Public Health Crisis: Infodemiology Study. JMIR Infodemiology. 2025;5:e70756. doi: 10.2196/70756
5. World Health Organization. 1st WHO Infodemiology Conference [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2020/06/30/default-calendar/1st-who-infodemiology-conference
6. World Health organization. How to report misinformation online [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/campaigns/connecting-the-world-to-combat-coronavirus/how-to-report-misinformation-online
7. Springer S, Zieger M, Strzelecki A. The rise of infodemiology and infoveillance during COVID-19 crisis. One Health. 2021;13:100288. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100288
8. Chen J, Wang Y. Social Media Use for Health Purposes: Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23(5):e17917. doi: 10.2196/17917
9. Guy S, Ratzki-Leewing A, Bahati R, Gwadry-Sridhar F. Social media: A systematic review to understand the evidence and application in infodemiology. Lect Notes Inst Comput Sci Soc Telecommun Eng. 2012;91:1-8. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-29262-0_1
10. Denniss E, Lindberg R. Social media and the spread of misinformation: Infectious and a threat to public health. Health Promot Int. 2025;40(2):daaf023. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daaf023
11. Suarez-Lledo V, Alvarez-Galvez J. prevalence of health misinformation on social media: Systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23(1):e17187. doi: 10.2196/17187
12. Aïmeur E, Amri S, Brassard G. Fake news, disinformation and misinformation in social media: A review. Soc Netw Anal Min . 2023;13(1):30. doi: 10.1007/s13278-023-01028-5
13. Muhammed T S, Mathew SK. The disaster of misinformation: A review of research in social media. Int J Data Sci Anal. 2022;13(4):271-285. doi: 10.1007/s41060-022-00311-6
14. Tsao SF, Chen H, Tisseverasinghe T, Yang Y, Li L, Butt ZA. What social media told us in the time of COVID-19: A scoping review. Lancet Digit Health. 2021;3(3):e175-e194. doi: 10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30315-0
15. Kemp S. Digital 2024: July global statshot report [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-july-global-statshot
16. Kemp S. Digital 2020: 3.8 Billion people use social media [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media/
17. World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19
18. Ye S, Hartmann RW, Söderström M, Amin MA, Skillinghaug B, Schembri LS, et al. Turning information dissipation into dissemination: Instagram as a communication enhancing tool during the covid-19 pandemic and beyond. J Chem Educ. 2020;97(9):3217-3222. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00724
19. Kent R. Self-tracking health over time: From the use of Instagram to perform optimal health to the protective shield of the digital detox. Soc Media+ Soc. 2020;6(3):2056305120940694. doi: 10.1177/2056305120940694
20. Kent R. (In) visibility of health and illness: Instagram as an unregulated public health platform. Anthropol Med. 2024;31(3):297-312. doi: 10.1080/13648470.2024.2386887
21. Bhatta J, Sharma S, Kandel S, Nepal R. Infodemic monikers in social media during covid-19 pandemic. Asia Pacific J Heal Manag. 2020;15(4):95. doi:10.24083/APJHM.V15I4.513
22. Meta. See how Instagram algorithms can work for you [Internet].[cited 2024 Jul 28]. Available from: https://creators.instagram.com/grow/algorithms-and-ranking
23. Meta.Use hashtags on Instagram [Internet].[cited 2024 Jul 28]. Available from: https://help.instagram.com/351460621611097/
24. Beta Research Center.What is the most popular and most used social network among Iranian users? [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: http://beta-co.ir/. [In Persian].
25. Rovetta A, Bhagavathula AS. Global infodemiology of COVID-19: Analysis of Google web searches and Instagram hashtags. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22(8):1-9. doi:10.2196/20673. doi: 10.2196/20673
26. Zhang D, Earp BE. The usefulness of Instagram posts tagging hand surgery conditions. J Hand Microsurg. 2022;14:304-307. doi:10.1055/s-0040-1721171
27. Giannoulakis S, Tsapatsoulis N. Evaluating the descriptive power of Instagram hashtags. J Innov Digit Ecosyst. 2016;3(2):114-129. doi: 10.1016/j.jides.2016.10.001
28. Taghi Pana F, Nowkarizi M, Hossein Dayyani M. Information tagging behavior in the Instagram based on social tagging theory. Libr Inf Sci [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2026 Aug 15]; 22(1):28-53. Available from: https://lis.aqr-libjournal.ir/article_59777.html?lang=en. [In Persian].
29. Digital Word Revolution Agency. Digital future times. Instagram for business: How to add location tags and why they’re important [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available https://www.digitalfuturetimes.com/instagram-for-business-how-to-add-location-tags-and-why-theyre-important/
30. Chan HF, Cho HJ, Lee HE. Examining the use of geotags on instagram: motivation, satisfaction, and location-based information sharing in Hong Kong. Int J Internet, Broadcast Commun [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2026 Aug 15]; 14(1):64–77. Available from: https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE12202931
31. Mirza E. SocialBu. Instagram location stories: A guide to geotagging [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://socialbu.com/blog/instagram-location-stories/
32. Wobb. Location tagging on Instagram & Why does it matter [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2024 Jun 6]. Available from: https://blog.wobb.ai/instagram-location-tagging/
33. Robillard JM, Jun JH, Lai JA, Feng TL. The QUEST for quality online health information: Validation of a short quantitative tool. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2018;18(1):87. doi: 10.1186/s12911-018-0668-9
34. Ayani S, Sadoughi F, Jabari R, Moulaei K, Ashrafi-Rizi H. Evaluation criteria for health websites: critical review. Front Heal Informatics. 2020;9(1):44. doi: 10.30699/fhi.v9i1.235
35. Silberg WM, Lundberg GD MR. Assessing, controlling, and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet: Caveant lector et viewor--Let the reader and viewer beware. JAMA. 1997;16(277):1244-1245. doi: 10.1001/jama.1997.03540390074039
36. National Library of Medicine. Checklist: Evaluating internet health information [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2024 May]. Available from: https://medlineplus.gov/webeval/webevalchecklist.html
37. Gupta N, Dorfman R, Saadat S, Roostaeian J. An updated review of plastic surgery-related hashtag utilization on Instagram: Implications for education and marketing. Aesthet Surg J Open Forum. 2020;2(2):ojaa011. doi: 10.1093/asjof/ojaa011
38. Park JH, Christman MP, Linos E, Rieder EA. Dermatology on Instagram: An analysis of hashtags. J Drugs Dermatol. 2018;17(4):482-484. PMID: 29601627
39. Falcone K. Quick Tips for evaluating health websites. In: Introduction to Health (Falcone). Medicine LibreTexts.15.3 [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://med.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Health_and_Fitness/Introduction_to_Health_1e_(Falcone)/15%3A_Consumer_Health_and_Aging/15.03%3A_Quick_Tips_for_Evaluating_Health_Websites
40. Vogel L. Viral misinformation threatens public health. CMAJ. 2017;189(50):E1567. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5536
41. Allcott H, Gentzkow M, Yu C. Trends in the diffusion of misinformation on social media. Res Polit. 2019;6(2). doi: 10.1177/2053168019848554
42. Bangani S. The fake news wave: Academic libraries' battle against misinformation during COVID-19. J Acad Librariansh. 2021;47(5):102390. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102390
43. Hamzat SA, Otulugbu D. Social media use and the challenges of information dissemination during emergencies: Experience of Library and Information scientists on Covid-19 in Nigeria. Libr Philos Pract (e-journal) [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2026 Aug 15]; 4267;1–15. Available from: https:// digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/4267/
44. Ashrafi-rizi1 H, Kazempour Z. Information typology in Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis; a commentary. Arch Acad Emerg Med. 2020;8(1):1-3. doi: 10.22037/aaem.v8i1.591
45. Abd-Alrazaq A, Alhuwail D, Househ M, Hamdi M, Shah Z. Top Concerns of Tweeters during the COVID-19 pandemic: Infoveillance study. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22(4):e19016. doi: 10.2196/19016
46. Guo Y, Yang ZZ, Yang ZZ, Liu YQ, Bielefield A, Tharp G. The provision of patron services in Chinese academic libraries responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Libr Hi Tech. 2021;39(2):533-548. doi: 10.1108/LHT-04-2020–0098
47. Koulouris A, Vraimaki E, Koloniari M. Covid-19 and library social media use. Ref Serv Rev. 2020;49(1):19-38. doi: 10.1108/RSR-06-2020–0044
48. Gholamisuq R, Shahbodaghi A, Kazerani M. Social networks: Libraries during COVID-19 pandemic. J Med Libr Inf Sci. 2023;4:1-8. doi: 10.22037/jmlis.v4i.43130
49. Choi Y, Kim SU. Public library twitter use during the early period of the covid-19 lockdown in the united states. Electron Libr. 2021;39(5):713-731. doi: 10.1108/EL-03-2021–0067
50. Epstein HB. Dispelling Covid-19 misinformation. Med Ref Serv Q. 2022;41(1):80-85. doi: 10.1080/02763869.2022.2021036
51. X Corp. About Community Notes on X [Internet]. [cited 2026 Aug 15]. Available from: https://help.x.com/en/using-x/community-notes
- Abstract Viewed: 3 times
