BACKGROUND
In 2020, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the population needed to contain the spread of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants. The pandemic was caused by a new virus. Then, any new discovery had to be reported to the population, as fast as possible. Moreover, there was a large amount of news being spread online without fact check (fake news), generating misinformation. This supported and increased the anti-vaccine movement. Therefore, it has demonstrated the extreme importance of fighting the spread of fake news about the coronavirus. Social networks are a great tool for providing secure information from reliable sources and their use should be encouraged within the scientific community.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to bring information about scientific dissemination using social media.
METHODS
An Instagram account was created in June of 2021 (@grupo.cienciagram) and it was used to broadcast information about science, diseases and health. Videos were created using the video Instagram editing tools. Data was collected from Instagram Insights.
RESULTS
Our Instagram profile reached over 8,000 followers in October of 2021, and one of the reels videos posted reached over 2 million views worldwide.
CONCLUSIONS
Instagram is a good scientific dissemination resource that provides different tools, being reels the one with more reach. This resource should be more explored by the scientific community to strengthen the bond between society and scientific information.