"Badfluence eller influence?" : En kvalitativ studie om hur unga kvinnor upplever tillförlitligheten hos olika källor om risker relaterade till coronapandemin, och huruvida influencers förhållningssätt till dessa risker på sociala medier har en inverkan p

Sammanfattning: When the Corona pandemic left its mark on Swedish society in the spring of 2020, the Swedish Public Health Agency began to introduce general advice and recommendations to avoid risky behaviours and thus reduce the spread of infection. Not least established media work to ensure that the public is kept up to date on risks related to the corona pandemic, but there is concern about influencers' attitudes to these risks on social media. This is because of their influence on their followers. The purpose of this study was to investigate how young females experience the reliability of different sources about risks related to the corona pandemic, and how they experience that influencers relate to the risks on social media and whether this has an impact on their own understanding of and behavior in relation to the risks. This with the help of the theories two-step hypothesis and risk culture, as well as qualitative semi-structured interviews with six young women between 18-25. The results show that the respondents see influencers on social media as role models but turn primarily to the Swedish Public Health Agency and established news media for reliable information about risks related to the corona pandemic - rather than to influencers. Respondents agree that influencers generally send misleading signals about the risks on social media. But despite primary trust in the public health authority's and established media, influencers have to some extent an impact on respondents' understanding of and behavior in relation to risks. Influencers' undesirable behavior in relation to the risks makes it more difficult for the respondents to determine whether the Public Health Agency's advice and recommendations apply and contributes to the respondents being more natural to behave in a similar, undesirable way.