Public Controversy in Viewing Covid-19 Information on Instagram

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has been going on for more than two years, has left various problems affecting health, the economy, and the flow of information in society. The government of Indonesia and related parties are trying to educate the public about the importance of booster vaccines and sustainability in maintaining health protocols through mass media, one of which is online mass media such as Instagram. In order to see the pros and cons of uploaded comments related to Covid-19 information, this study aims to examine the comparison of public responses in responding to information about the Covid-19 pandemic on the doctor's accounts @adamprabata and Ministry of Health @kemenkes_ri on Instagram. This study used a qualitative approach with a virtual ethnographic method based on Cyber Media Analysis. The data for this study are taken through observations from the two Instagram accounts related to information about Covid-19 in October - November 2022. This timeframe is chosen to see how the public perceives information related to Covid-19 when the Covid-19 pandemic has started to subside. However, there is concern that the number of sufferers will increase due to the emergence of the XBB subvariant. The results of the research show that ordinary people perceive Covid-19 as does not exist anymore. Thus, health protocol and vaccines were no longer necessary. Meanwhile, people who have sought health information in more depth by following doctors' accounts who frequently discuss health issues, including Covid-19 from different perspective. They tend to be more careful about the Covid-19 situation during this period. Keywords: Controversy, Covid-19, Instagram, Pandemic, PublicThe Covid-19 pandemic, which has been going on for more than two years, has left various problems affecting health, the economy, and the flow of information in society. The government of Indonesia and related parties are trying to educate the public about the importance of booster vaccines and sustainability in maintaining health protocols through mass media, one of which is online mass media such as Instagram. In order to see the pros and cons of uploaded comments related to Covid-19 information, this study aims to examine the comparison of public responses in responding to information about the Covid-19 pandemic on the doctor’s accounts @adamprabata and Ministry of Health @kemenkes_ri on Instagram. This study used a qualitative approach with a virtual ethnographic method based on Cyber Media Analysis. The data for this study were taken through observations from the two Instagram accounts related to information about Covid-19 in October - November 2022. This timeframe was chosen to see how the public perceives information related to Covid-19 when the Covid-19 pandemic has started to subside, however, there is concern that the number of sufferers will increase due to the emergence of the XBB subvariant. The results of the research showed that ordinary people perceive that as if Covid-19 doesn’t exist anymore, thus health protocol and vaccines were no longer necessary. Meanwhile, people who have actively sought health information in more depth by following doctors’ accounts who frequently discuss health issues including Covid-19, have a different perspective. They tend to be more careful about the Covid-19 situation during this period.Keywords: Controversy, Covid-19, Instagram, pandemic, public ABSTRAKPandemi Covid-19 yang telah berlangsung dua tahun lebih menyisakan berbagai persoalan yang berdampak pada kesehatan, perekonomian, dan arus informasi di masyarakat. Pemerintah dan pihak terkait berusaha mengedukasi masyarakat tentang pentingnya vaksin booster dan keberlanjutan untuk menjaga protokol kesehatan melalui media massa, salah satunya media massa online seperti Instagram. Guna melihat pro kontra pada komentar unggahan terkait informasi Covid-19, maka penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji perbandingan respon publik dalam menanggapi informasi tentang pandemi Covid-19 pada akun dokter @adamprabata dan @kemenkes_ri di Instagram. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode etnografi virtual berbasis Analisis Media Siber. Data pada penelitian diambil melalui observasi dari kedua akun Instagram tersebut yang berkaitan dengan informasi seputar Covid-19 pada Bulan Oktober - November 2022. Rentang waktu ini dipilih untuk melihat bagaimana publik memandang informasi terkait Covid-19 di saat pandemi Covid-19 sudah mulai mereda, namun kekhawatiran meningkatnya jumlah penderita tetap ada akibat munculnya subvarian XBB. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa masyarakat awam memandang bahwa seolah-olah Covid-19 sudah tidak ada, dengan demikian protokol kesehatan dan vaksin sudah tidak perlu lagi dilakukan. Sedangkan masyarakat yang sudah aktif mencari informasi kesehatan secara lebih mendalam dengan mem-follow akun dokter yang sering membahas masalah kesehatan termasuk Covid-19, memiliki perspektif yang berbeda. Mereka cenderung lebih berhati-hati menghadapi situasi Covid-19 pada kurun waktu tersebut.Kata Kunci: Covid-19, Instagram, kontroversi, pandemi, publi