| Abstract [eng] |
Every mean of communication influences the addressee, but the significance lies in the channel itself. The concept of media is now broader as ever because now not only technological but socio-political context has to be correspondingly taken into consideration. Online social networking sites (hereinafter as OSNs) are increasingly used as news’ channels, people now understand news sharing through OSNs as a form of status seeking, socialization and information consumption. Influencers, the outcome of OSNs, with their solid base of fans together with the potential of newest technological gadgets and the conveniences of OSNs, garner a lot of attention from various audiences and shall be considered as early adopters of new information who afterwards passes this information to broader audiences and become the cause for society’s perception to change. OSNs shall be considered as possible channels and mediums for panic to rise/spread, however, everything depends on the input of the agent who uses OSNs. Under such specific circumstances as during the COVID-19 crisis, it is relatively difficult to remain disinterested and to hold oneself aloof. In general, panic is moderately easy to spread. By all means, everything depends on the input of the agent who uses OSNs in order to deliver desirable message. Influencers shall be considered as main triggers to encourage discussions and debates through which panic might start to spread. Even though they are the ones who usually encounter disinformation and misrepresentations, the two-step flow of communication is the channel where distortion of facts begins. The greatest danger is the misuse of data because it is very easy to have one’s brain hijacked by parasitic ideas. The replication of ideas might start panic on the grounds that one’s ideas easily become everybody’s ideas. Thanks to all new technology a lot of ideas inevitably flow out into the world and a lot of them are toxic and dangerous to those that have not developed the immunity. All should be alert to this as in most cases it is impossible to consume information in a morally neutral perspective. Be that as it may, social media influencers can be responsible for the construction of digital panic. The aim of this paper is to examine how and to what extension this digital panic is spread by Facebook influencers in Lithuania. |
