- Instagram introduces a new ‘stay home’ sticker and story to encourage social distancing among the masses.
- The curated story appears on top of all of the friends’ posts.
- Other social media companies applying changes in reaction to the coronavirus crisis in their own unique ways.
The WHO advises the people to stay home to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. The virus still does not have any cure but there is a chance to slow down its spread by maintaining a distance of 1-2 meters apart among the people. So, to encourage social distancing, Instagram launched a new ‘stay home’ sticker in stories. We can’t say how effective these cause-related stickers are but Instagram keeps on releasing them that shows they are somewhat effective. In ordinary circumstances, Instagram stories are filled with snaps from festivals, parties, and social gatherings, etc. But the circumstances are not the same now, so people need to stay home to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. This sticker might make staying home more fun.
The new sticker appears to have a more strong emphasis from the platform as the stories with this sticker will appear on top of other friend’s posts. Instagram also created a new group story that will gather stories tagged with the new ‘stay home’ sticker. It appears that for now you will only be able to see posts from your friends in the group story.
Anything that can help spread awareness among the masses is important because people are not taking this issue seriously, said Paul, founder of Likemind Media and was among the first creators to use the new ‘stay home’ sticker.
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The coronavirus death toll continues to rise up day-by-day, but some people are still not taking the situation seriously and continue to go out in public gatherings. You can still be carrying the virus even if you don’t show any symptoms, so it will be better to avoid going out and attending public gatherings. It’s good to see that Instagram is at least trying to highlight the key message and is encouraging social distancing.
Other social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter and Whatsapp are also applying reactive changes to the coronavirus pandemic in their own unique ways. Whatsapp launched a chatbot in partnership with the World Health Organization to fight COVID-19 misinformation. The new chatbot will provide the latest information about the coronavirus and will also dispel fake news about the coronavirus and its spread. To use the chatbot, just simply add ‘+41 79 893 1892’ to your phone texts and send ‘Hi’ in a Whatsapp message. Facebook on the other hand has added a COVID-19 information page at top of the user’s newsfeed.
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