Social Media and The COVID-19 Response: A Case Study of Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in New Zealand

COVID-19 pandemic is spreading across the globe, causing huge losses to humans and changing people’s lifestyles. New Zealand has also suffered from this fatal virus outbreak. Social media has been used by governments from many countries for communication about COVID-19, but the research on social media used in COVID-19 remains limited. This research aims to study how the leading New Zealand business agency, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), used Facebook to disseminate COVID-19, and how businesses and the public benefitted from it. Facebook posts from MBIE published over two months from March 18, 2020, to May 12, 2020, as well as user reviews were collected and thematically analysed. Before the research was conducted, an Official Information Act request was submitted to MBIE and an approval confirmation was received for using any publicly available information released by MBIE. The findings indicate Facebook was used by MBIE as a comprehensive channel to address COVID-19, as well as being an avenue to interact with businesses and people, and businesses and people benefitted from it in multiple aspects.