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Comunicar Journal 79: Metaversal and Transhumanist Ecologies: Perspectives for Digital Reculturization (Vol. 32 - 2024)
Social Learning on TikTok: the Community as a Literacy Axis on Blood Donation
Raquel Martínez-Sanz
Patricia Durántez-Stolle
This research examines the creation of knowledge on social networks about blood donation, the role of virtual communities and their potential to attract donors. We applied a two-step methodology, starting by interviews with blood donation management institutions in Spain (N=21) and concluding with the analysis of comments from 61 donor testimonials on TikTok (N=1,606). This social network was chosen because of the scarce institutional presence and the predominance of Generation Z, which is necessary for generational change. The results show that blood donation in Spain is seen from a positive perspective, where complaints are rare or relativised and the community encourages the behaviour imitation thanks to the feeling of pride and gratitude to donors. Knowledge is generated both from the contributions of creators and audiences and is focused on informing about the process, conditions and consequences, supporting its voluntary and altruistic nature. Overall, social, group and collaborative learning takes place, with greater success in those contents shared by health profiles but supported by all users. We conclude that TikTok plays a relevant role in the literacy and awareness of blood donation based on the virtual community collective intelligence, which will affect the donor relay thanks to the behavioural models that obtain social recognition.
Keywords
Collective intelligence, health information, literacy, social learning, social media, virtual communities