Social Media in Crisis Communication (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Work-In-Process Literature Review: Incorporating Social Media in Risk and Crisis Communication
Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 2011
This work-in-process literature review gives an overview of recent insight in the incorporation of social media in risk and crisis communication. By marrying literature and examples of social media use with best practices in risk and crisis communication, this study demonstrates how communicators can embrace social media tools to better manage a risk or crisis. Best practices in risk and crisis communication are summarized, examples of social media tools used to manage risks and crises are expounded, and recommendations for practitioners are provided to incorporate social media tools in risk and crisis communication.
Springer eBooks, 2023
The two policy questions addressed in this chapter cover the whole crisis management cycle from the response and recovery to prevention and preparedness. They consider both the benefit of using citizen-generated content and the challenges of integrating citizen-led initiatives in the response. On the one hand, focusing on data allows interrogating the IT methods available to collect, process and deliver relevant information to support decision-making and response engagement. On the other hand, considering citizens' contribution and initiatives to the crisis management processes and response requires working on organizational and collaborative processes from local, regional, national or transnational levels. This chapter frames an up-do-date state of the art on the questions of citizens' generated content and led initiatives for crisis management and response, and it proposes directions to policy makers to that respect. It places the question of mutual trust between institutions and citizens as a key problematic in a hybrid world where mediated communication and interactions with citizens required new and adapted practices from professionals of crisis management.
Using ICT & Social Media in Disasters: Opportunities & Risks for Government
Risk and Resilience Report, 2013
When a crisis is unfolding, people no longer wait for an official statement from government actors; rather they turn to the news media, they go to Twitter or Facebook, they log onto forums and blogs, etc., because they expect information and they can get it quickly from various sources. In such a dynamic information environment, if a government lacks a policy on how to use social media, particularly in crisis situations (meaning it does not act, or act appropriately), then it may face a loss of credibility and struggle with the management of a crisis. To get ahead of this curve, debating the risks and opportunities of using social media is a critical first step to building a sound social media policy and identifying certain engagement guidelines. This report examines four different issue areas to analyze how social media is used in the context of risk and crisis communication. These areas include: public safety and preparedness; emergency warnings, alerts and requests for assistance; recovery efforts; and, finally, monitoring and situational awareness. In the context of each of these areas, we highlight the key literature and real-life examples to explore the risks vs. opportunities in the utility of social media. These four areas capture the role of engagement and strategy in both the risk and crisis space.
Nowadays, social media has blasted as an aspect of network communication. Since recent years people create and load content, share it, bookmark it and decide which gear is important which not. We create shortcuts and communicate via chats. We highlight the needed and delete the content we don't need anymore… With actions we do and life we bear there is progressively increasing crisis. As social media has much to do with crisis management, it has developed some characteristics to carry out crisis management operations. These are -collectivity; connectedness; completeness; clarity and collaboration. 1 In this work, there are presented different social media tools and the description of their utilization in the sphere of crisis management in order to increase rational, systematic and responsive competence in various organizations. The 4 main social media functions are discussed in this paper. (1) Information publication, (2) collapse plan and training, (3) collective problem solving and decision making, and (4) information accumulation. These are mapped onto the three phases of crisis management and present how a variety of civil media tools can be used to strengthen crisis communication. 2 There are several case studies and examples of organizations and governments included in our work.
Risk, crisis, and social media. A systematic review of seven years' research
The literature on social media use in risk and crisis communication is growing fast, and it is time to take stock before looking forward. A review of 200 empirical studies in the area shows how the literature is indeed increasing and focusing on particular social media plat forms, users, and phases from risk to crisis relief. However, although spanning 40 countries, a large proportion of the world's social media users are under-represented in the research. In addition, little attention is given to the question of who is actually reached through social media, and the effects of the digital divide are rarely discussed. This article suggests that more attention is given to the questions of equal access to information and ICTs, complementary media channels, and cultural diversity.
Social media in Government: Communicating Risks to the Public during Emergency Events
Academy of Management Proceedings, 2015
To answer the question, What are the best ways to communicate uncertainties to public audiences, at-risk communities, and stakeholders during public health emergency events? we conducted a systematic review of published studies, grey literature, and media reports in English and other United Nations (UN) languages Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. Almost 2900 English and 8600 other UN languages titles and abstracts were scanned of which 33 English and 13 other UN languages data-based primary studies were selected, which were classified into four methodological streams: Quantitative-comparison groups; Quantitative-descriptive survey; Qualitative; and Mixed-method and case-study. Study characteristics (study method, country, emergency type, emergency phase, at-risk population) and study findings (in narrative form) were extracted from individual studies. The findings were synthesized within methodological streams and evaluated for certainty and confidence. These within-method findings were next synthesized across methodological streams to develop an overarching synthesis of findings. The findings showed that country coverage focused on high and middle-income countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, and the event most covered was infectious disease followed by flood and earthquake. The findings also showed that uncertainty in public health emergency events is a multi-faceted concept with multiple components. There is universal agreement, with some exceptions, that communication to the public should include explicit information about event uncertainties, and this information must be consistent and presented in an easy to understand format. Additionally, uncertainty related to events requires a distinction between uncertainty information and uncertainty experience. At-risk populations experience event uncertainty in lives full of uncertainties from other sources. Event uncertainty is experienced and uncertainty information may be understood and misunderstood in the same general ways by the public, experts, and policy makers. Experience of event uncertainty may be a defining feature for media professionals as well due to contradictory and inconsistent information in the environment..
Risk, Crisis, and Social Media
Nordicom Review, 2017
The literature on social media use in risk and crisis communication is growing fast, and it is time to take stock before looking forward. A review of 200 empirical studies in the area shows how the literature is indeed increasing and focusing on particular social media plat forms, users, and phases from risk to crisis relief. However, although spanning 40 countries, a large proportion of the world’s social media users are under-represented in the research. In addition, little attention is given to the question of who is actually reached through social media, and the effects of the digital divide are rarely discussed. This article suggests that more attention is given to the questions of equal access to information and ICTs, complementary media channels, and cultural diversity.
Journal of Public Affairs, 2019
The manuscript investigates how social media were used during a flood disaster managed by public affairs officers. We conducted high-level "elite" interviews with the state's top emergency managers about their social media policies, practices, and use in both media relations and citizen communication. We explored the strategies and communication models implemented, challenges and barriers for effective adoption of these platforms, and ethical implications in the use social media during natural disasters. The study investigates gaps between theories and practice, adopting a multidisciplinary perspective that involves public relations, social media studies, government/public affairs, and public sector communication. Recommendations are offered to improve disaster communication via social media including dedicated staff and resources, evaluation, symmetry, and the use of ethical communication to quell rumors or misinformation during a disaster. 1 | INTRODUCTION Social media has reframed communication as rapidly emerging, without geographic boundaries, and interactive on both a societal and individual scale. Rapid communication is a challenge to manage, and that challenge is exacerbated in the most exigent situations: emergencies and disasters to be managed by public sector organizations (PSOs) and by public affairs specialists (Bowen, Rawlins, & Martin, 2019). Social media serves as a powerful tool for emergency management and disaster relief in many recent emergency situations worldwide, such as Hurricanes Sandy and Harvey in the United States, the tsunami in Japan, earthquakes in Italy and Chile, and the Queensland floods in Australia. We focus on the role of social media as used by government agencies and PSOs (i.e., public departments, officials, and other government agencies) as part of their emergency and disaster response. This case study examines a disaster in which eleven trillion gallons of water fell in South Carolina (SC), United States, causing massive flooding in residential areas; results included fatalities, massive infrastructure damage including road and bridge collapses, evacuations, and prolonged loss of energy in October 2015. The death toll was 17 and property damage totaled $1.2 billion. Social media took a prominent place during the flood in interactions between PSOs, media, and citizens. Messages were disseminated on social media to inform news media and citizens, and to coordinate disaster operations. Emergency communication and disaster response is not optional for elected officials, organizations, and government entities at every level: national, state, county, and city. In the United States, there were 137 major disasters in 2017 and 79 in 2018's hurricane season (FEMA, 2018). The flood in SC was only one of the major disasters in 2015 but offers a unique opportunity to examine disaster response and social media use from the perspective of the communication function in numerous government entities with high-level (elite) public affairs officers (PAOs). We examined social media around this disaster from a perspective of crisis management (Coombs, 2019) and public relations
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN CRISIS PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE AND RECOVERY
In recent years, social media has exploded as a category of online discourse where people create content, share it, bookmark it and network at a prodigious rate. The five key characteristics of social media: collectivity; connectedness; completeness; clarity and collaboration lend itself to be used increasingly to support crisis management functions. This paper examines the various categories of social media tools to understand how they can be utilised to enhance analytical and response capabilities of organisations for crisis management.