Tiktok has grown immensely and it is not only limited to entertainment videos but is being used as a way to cut through the clutter that exists on the Covid-19 virus and provide valuable information.
The World Health Organization launched a TikTok account on Friday as an effort to highlight the misinformation regarding coronavirus. A specialized public health agency of the United Nations, WHO is one of the leading organizations working to contain the spread of the virus.
The main aim of WHO’s launch on TikTok is to get accurate information concerning the novel coronavirus to people online. According to the MIT Technology Review, WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have spent the last couple of weeks of the outbreak fighting misinformation regarding the virus on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tencent, and TikTok.
In the first video posted by Benedetta Allegranzi, Technical Lead of Infection Prevention and Control describes measures people can take to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus and directs them to the organization’s website for additional information.
Information from WHO already tops Google results for search queries about the novel coronavirus. Other than on social media sites people are been educated about this virus. Twitter users see a message that says “Know the facts” and directs them to visit the CDC’s website for “the best information on the novel coronavirus” when they search for content related to the virus. TikTok also links users who search for virus-related content to the WHO website.