From women for women: The role of social media in online nonprofit activities during Wuhan lockdown |
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| Authors: | Yiran Li Yanto Chandra Lin Nie Yingying Fan |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Government and Public Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences Building (E21), University of Macau Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau;2. Department of Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong;3. Centre for Civil Society and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Centennial Campus, Pokfulam, Hong Kong |
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| Abstract: | The article examines the role of social media in mitigating information asymmetry and coordination problems during COVID-19 epidemic crisis. We use “Sisters-Fight-Epidemic” online volunteering project during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, as a case to demonstrate how social media plays a role as a mechanism in linking multiple stakeholders and shaping their actions during the epidemic response. We show that social media facilitates the self-organizing processes of volunteers and develops the emergency information networks, therefore enabling a relatively efficient relief responses to the needs of epidemic victims particularly female medical workers. This article also identifies spontaneous online volunteering project as a new form of nonprofit organization and as a new emergent response group that can leverage the strengths of social media in disaster responses to enable effective coordination, initiate advocacy, and improve transparency of relief efforts. |
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| Keywords: | online volunteering pandemic social media China |
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