Translating Knowledge, Establishing Trust: The role of social media in communicating the Covid-19 pandemic in The Netherlands

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of social media in translating information between scientists (experts), government (policy-makers), mass media (journalists) and citizens (non-experts) during the first six months after the COVID-19 outbreak in the Netherlands. Over the past decade, the institutional (translational) model of science communication, based on linear vectors of information flows between institutions, has gradually converted into a networked model where social media propel information flows circulating between all actors involved. The question driving our research is: How are social media deployed to both undermine and enhance public trust in scientific expertise during a health crisis? Analysing how scientific expertise gets ‘translated’ during the public debate following the corona outbreak in the Netherlands, we investigate two stages: The emergency response phase and the ‘smart exit strategy’ phase, discussing how scientific experts, policy-makers, journalists and citizens appropriate social media logic to steer information and to control the debate. We conclude by outlining the potential risks and benefits of adopting social media dynamics in institutional contexts of science communication.