*Azlina Kamaruddin, Mohamad I’rfan Shahruddin

Abstract:

Social depravation related to drug abuse in society is becoming more prevalent and is of increasing concern to various parties. Social media has spotlighted the importance of mastering communication functions in general, given it is a very significant medium that can influence social change. However, the number of drug abuse cases does not appear to decrease and instead has only increased over time. Generally, there are some constraints and challenges in the communication process that hinder any change in the attitudes and thoughts of community members. Thus, this study aims to identify the function of communication in the short videos of drug abuse on YouTube as well as explore factors that can influence attitude change in these drug abuse videos. Data was collected using qualitative methods and analysed using thematic analysis with the help of QSR Nvivo. Findings show that the main function of communication is to channel information and present persuasive messages.

Keywords: Communication, drug abuse, behaviour change, YouTube, persuasion