Meme-ifying Data: The Rise of Public Health Influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter during Covid-19

Abstract

This article argues for the importance of the memetic tactic of bricolage within contemporary social media science communication for its capacity to curate and distill approachable, accessible, and shareable Covid-19 content. We suggest that the social media communication practices of what we call ‘public health influencers’ (PHIs) on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter make use of memetic bricolage techniques of stop motion, collage, infographics, and placarding, coupled with an ethos of ‘micro-celebrity,’ in order to advance stalled public conversations and to reorient the spread of disinformation back to evidence-based facts. To make this argument, we analyze the cross-platform social media work of three key PHIs during the pediatric vaccination campaigns of late 2021 within our local context of Ontario, Canada to reflect on the effectiveness of social media presence, communication, and advocacy. Through memetic tactics, we argue that PHIs’ efforts to engage the public are driven by a larger impulse to combat health inequities that are exacerbated by the different forms of disinformation circulating on social media. Ultimately, this article illustrates how the concerted effort against disinformation by PHIs on social media via memes contributes to advocacy for more accessible, just, and equitable health care for Ontarians.