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                                                                  Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the uses of public relations employees in Al-Ahsa hospitals for social networking sites and the relationship between this use and employing it to raise awareness of Corona disease, as well as to identify social communication activities by public relations employees to manage the stages of the Corona virus crisis, the sources of information they use, and the communication patterns they provide, as well as the effectiveness of public relations. The study's findings were based on the comprehensive survey method and the analytical-descriptive method. Due to the small size of the study population, the entire community was used as a sample for the study, with a total of 61 male and female employees as of the time the study was conducted. Twitter ranked first among the most popular websites, with a usage rate of 35.9%, while Google Chrome ranked last, with a usage rate of 1.9% of the total study sample. Additionally, the rate of using social media to raise awareness of the dangers of Corona disease was (always) high, at 60%. The results also indicate that the pattern of providing information of the type "tweet / publication" ranked first with a rate of 29.9%, while the pattern of providing information of the type "animated infographic" ranked last with a rate of 8.5% of the total study sample, and that there is a weak direct relationship between the use of social networking sites and the level of awareness of the risks of Corona disease, and a medium direct relationship between the use of social networking sites and the level of awareness of the (0.05).
 

Keywords: Al-Ahsa hospitals, uses and gratifications, Corona pandemic, public relations employees.