@Article{info:doi/10.2196/20775,
author="Moon, Hana
and Lee, Geon Ho",
title="Evaluation of Korean-Language COVID-19--Related Medical Information on YouTube: Cross-Sectional Infodemiology Study",
journal="J Med Internet Res",
year="2020",
month="Aug",
day="12",
volume="22",
number="8",
pages="e20775",
keywords="COVID-19; YouTube; social media; misinformation; public health surveillance; health communication; consumer health information; health education; infectious disease outbreaks; infodemiology; infoveillance; infodemic; internet; multimedia",
abstract="Background: In South Korea, the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases has declined rapidly and much sooner than in other countries. South Korea is one of the most digitalized countries in the world, and YouTube may have served as a rapid delivery mechanism for increasing public awareness of COVID-19. Thus, the platform may have helped the South Korean public fight the spread of the disease. Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the reliability, overall quality, title--content consistency, and content coverage of Korean-language YouTube videos on COVID-19, which have been uploaded by different sources. Methods: A total of 200 of the most viewed YouTube videos from January 1, 2020, to April 30, 2020, were screened, searching in Korean for the terms ``Coronavirus,'' ``COVID,'' ``Corona,'' ``Wuhan virus,'' and ``Wuhan pneumonia.'' Non-Korean videos and videos that were duplicated, irrelevant, or livestreamed were excluded. Source and video metrics were collected. The videos were scored based on the following criteria: modified DISCERN index, Journal of the American Medical Association Score (JAMAS) benchmark criteria, global quality score (GQS), title--content consistency index (TCCI), and medical information and content index (MICI). Results: Of the 105 total videos, 37.14{\%} (39/105) contained misleading information; independent user--generated videos showed the highest proportion of misleading information at 68.09{\%} (32/47), while all of the government-generated videos were useful. Government agency--generated videos achieved the highest median score of DISCERN (5.0, IQR 5.0-5.0), JAMAS (4.0, IQR 4.0-4.0), GQS (4.0, IQR 3.0-4.5), and TCCI (5.0, IQR 5.0-5.0), while independent user--generated videos achieved the lowest median score of DISCERN (2.0, IQR 1.0-3.0), JAMAS (2.0, IQR 1.5-2.0), GQS (2.0, IQR 1.5-2.0), and TCCI (3.0, IQR 3.0-4.0). However, the total MICI was not significantly different among sources. ``Transmission and precautionary measures'' were the most commonly covered content by government agencies, news agencies, and independent users. In contrast, the most mentioned content by news agencies was ``prevalence,'' followed by ``transmission and precautionary measures.'' Conclusions: Misleading videos had more likes, fewer comments, and longer running times than useful videos. Korean-language YouTube videos on COVID-19 uploaded by different sources varied significantly in terms of reliability, overall quality, and title--content consistency, but the content coverage was not significantly different. Government-generated videos had higher reliability, overall quality, and title--content consistency than independent user--generated videos. ",
issn="1438-8871",
doi="10.2196/20775",
url="http://www.jmir.org/2020/8/e20775/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/20775",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32730221"
}