Exploring Commenting Behavior in the COVID-19 Super-Topic on Weibo

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese social media platform Weibo created a special super-topic for online users to seek help through posts or provide help through comments. Prior work has analyzed online help-seeking and help-providing messages during crisis situations, however, it is not clear why and how people commented on help-seeking posts to provide support, especially in such a crisis support community. In this study, we interviewed 23 commenters in the COVID-19 super-topic to examine their motivations and strategies for commenting. Our findings showed that geographical proximity and expertise level affected users' commenting behaviors. For example, non-locals or people lacking professional knowledge applied a "copy-and-paste"strategy and acted as a bridge between help-seekers and influencers on social media, while locals and experts focused on detailed information and provided targeted help. Some commenters also exhibited avoidance behaviors due to their sense of powerlessness and frustration in such a long-lasting pandemic. We discuss the implications of our findings for designing social media platforms to better support people in need during crisis situations.