The use of social media/internet through the COVID-19 pandemic

With the COVID-19 pandemic, our lives have been truly shifted towards the internet. Through a large amount of quarantine across the world, we have discovered various ways of changing our daily activities online: Remote learning, working from home, and connecting with friends and family through the use of social media instead of physical interactions… The pandemic and the quarantine have been causing major problems in the political, economic, and social aspects of our lives. Distressed by the worsening conditions of these aspects, a lot of people have been seeking ways to help their community through the internet, especially through the use of social media.

What are some examples of ways people have utilized the internet to make a change in their community? 

On April 20th, Chinese influencer WeiYa collaborated with several famous artists such as actors, singers, and talk show hosts to raise a live sale of agriculture products, helping those farmers whose products are in excess of demand. In the live stream, they sold 195,759 items of local produce. Together they have earned more than $5 million Chinese dollars, which will support 1895 villages in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan through the overstocked period. 

Source: https://tech.sina.com.cn/roll/2020-04-20/doc-iirczymi7285085.shtml

On April 6th, 2020, Lady Gaga announced a virtual concert named “One World: Together at Home” with hundreds of different artists from around the world. Prior to the concert, the concert committee has fundraised over $35 million USD for the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Response Fund. The concert aired on April 18th through various platforms and lasted for over 5 hours. 

Source: https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/one-world-together-at-home-virtual-concert-how-to-watch-what-to-know-1203560659/

Recently, US President Donald Trump announced a potential of restriction of the social media platform TikTok and WeChat. TikTok, being a very popular app among teenagers all over the world, has been used extensively through the pandemic for various both entertainment and other business purposes. WeChat, on the other hand, is one of the most common apps used among the Chinese community, and is also a very convenient app for people to keep in contact with their family members. The WeChat app not only allows direct communication between distant family members, but also supports contactless payment, which has been a very popular and convenient method of payment especially during the pandemic. Regardless of what will happen to these two social media platforms, and though the change could have a great impact on the Chinese community in North America, we are fortunate enough to be living in a time full of advanced technologies, which are supporting us through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Reference: 

• https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/one-world-together-at-home-virtual-concert-how-to-watch-what-to-know-1203560659/
• https://tech.sina.com.cn/roll/2020-04-20/doc-iirczymi7285085.shtml