RESEARCH ARTICLE Perceptions of social media challenges and benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic: Qualitative findings from a cross sectional international survey Mariyana Schoultz 1 , Gary Lamph ID 2 , Hilde Thygesen ID 3,4 *, Janni Leung 5 , Tore Bonsaksen ID 6,7 , Mary Ruffolo ID 8 , Daicia Price ID 8 , Paul Watson ID 1 , Isaac Kabelenga 9 , Vivian Chiu ID 5 , Amy Østertun Geirdal 10 1 School of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, 2 School of Nursing, The University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom, 3 Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway, 4 Faculty of Health Studies, VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway, 5 Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 6 Faculty of Social and Health Sciences, Department of Health and Nursing Science, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Norway, 7 Faculty of Health Studies, Department of Health, VID Specialized University, Stavanger, Norway, 8 School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America, 9 Department of Social Work and Sociology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zambia (UNZA), Lusaka, Zambia, 10 Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work, Oslo Metropolitan University, Child Welfare and Social Policy, Oslo, Norway * hilthy@oslomet.no Abstract Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020 the need for rapid informa- tion spread grew and social media became the ultimate platform for information exchange as well as a tool for connection and entertainment. With the rapid information spread along came the various public misconceptions and misinformation which consequently influenced perceptions and behaviors of the public towards the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, there was a need for identification and collation of public perceptions information to address future public health initiatives. This cross-national study aimed to examine the challenges and ben- efits of using social media during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. This study was a content analysis of the open-ended questions from a wider cross-sectional online survey conducted in Norway, UK, USA, and Australia during October/November 2020. 2368 participants out of 3474 respondents to the survey provided the open text responses included in the qualitative analysis. Thematic analysis was conducted independently by two researchers. All state- ments were coded to positive and negative sentiments. Three overarching themes were identified: 1. Mental health and emotional exhaustion 2. Information and misinformation; 3. Learning and inspiration.While providing a powerful mode of connection during the pan- demic, social media also led to negative impact on public perceptions, including mistrust and confusion. Clarity in communications by institutions and education about credible infor- mation sources should be considered in the future. Further research is required in exploring and documenting social media narratives around COVID-19 in this and any subsequent inci- dents of pandemic restrictions. Understanding the public perceptions and their social narra- tives can support the designing of appropriate support and services for people in the future, PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH PLOS Global Public Health | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001463 January 10, 2023 1 / 13 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Schoultz M, Lamph G, Thygesen H, Leung J, Bonsaksen T, Ruffolo M, et al. (2023) Perceptions of social media challenges and benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic: Qualitative findings from a cross sectional international survey. PLOS Glob Public Health 3(1): e0001463. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001463 Editor: Joel Msafiri Francis, University of the Witwatersrand, SOUTH AFRICA Received: April 2, 2022 Accepted: December 10, 2022 Published: January 10, 2023 Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001463 Copyright: © 2023 Schoultz et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: A minimal anonymized data set is within the Supporting Information file.