Kaustubh Bora|Dulmoni Das|Bhupen Barman|Probodh Borah
Are internet videos useful sources of information during global public health emergencies? A case study of YouTube videos during the 2015–16 Zika virus pandemic
Regional Medical Research Centre|Indira Gandhi National Open University|North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences
background internetvideos though popular sources public health information often unverified anecdotalwe critically evaluated youtube videos zika virus available recent zika pandemicmethods hundredandone videos retrieved youtube search term zika virusbased upon content classified informative misleading personal experience videosquality reliability videos evaluated using standardized toolsthe viewer interaction metrics egno views shares etc video characteristics video length etc sources upload also assessed relationship type quality reliability videos analyzedresults overall 703 videos informative 238 59 videos misleading related personal experiences respectivelyalthough shorter lengths p 001 superior quality p 001 yet informative videos viewed p 0054 liked p 001 shared p 005 less often misleading counterpartsvideos independent users likely misleading adjusted 648 95 ci 169 2483 poorer p 005 quality reliability governmentnews agency videosconclusion considerable chunk videos misleadingthey popular informative videos could potentially spread misinformationvideos trustworthy sources like universityhealth organizations scarcecurationauthentication health information online video platforms like youtube necessarywe discuss means harness useful source information highlight measures curb dissemination misinformation public health emergencies