Crisis Information Seeking and Sharing (CISS): Scale Development for Measuring Publics' Communicative Behavior in Social-Mediated Public Health Crises (original) (raw)
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Journal of international crisis and risk communication research, 2022
Combining the uses and gratifications theory (U&G) and the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC), this study examined why and how Chinese publics sought and shared information during a public health crisis in China-the Quanjian crisis. Through a survey of 309 Chinese adults, we found that Chinese publics sought and shared crisis information to gratify socializing, guidance, medium appeal, mood management, and habitual diversion gratifications. In addition, publics sought medium appeal gratification through information seeking and sought competence and reciprocity gratifications through information sharing. Moreover, the study examined the relationships between gratifications-sought and forms (i.e., traditional media, social media, offline word-of-mouth communication) and sources (i.e., government, news agency, health professionals, Quanjian company, other public members) of information that Chinese publics sought and shared during the Quanjian crisis.
How Audiences Seek Out Crisis Information: Exploring the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model
This study explores how audiences seek information from social and traditional media, and what factors affect media use during crises. Using the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model, an examination of crisis information and sources reveals that audiences use social media during crises for insider information and checking in with family/friends and use traditional media for educational purposes. Convenience, involvement, and personal recommendations encourage social and traditional media use; information overload discourages use of both. Humor and attitudes about the purpose of social media discourage use of social media, while credibility encourages traditional media use. Practically, findings stressed the importance of third-party influence in crisis communication and the need for using both traditional and social media in crisis response.
The Influencing Factors of Public Communication Behavior for Public Health Emergencies
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences
This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of public communication behavior and to analyse the influence factors of communication behavior on public health emergencies. The study reviews the previous literature on public communication behavior and the influence factors of communication behavior during health emergencies and proposes a conceptual model of public communication behavior in health emergencies. The findings of this study demonstrate that the factors influencing public communication behavior during health emergencies can be broadly classified into four categories, risk perception, emotion, public recognition, and motivation. The proposed conceptual model of public communication behavior provides a theoretical integrated overview to understand the relationships between these factors and public communication behavior in health emergencies. Furthermore, this study analyses public communication behavior from the public's internal communication perspective, which has not been adequately explored in previous research. The literature review adds to the body of knowledge by introducing four main groups of factors affecting communication behavior during health emergencies and highlights the importance of understanding the factors that influence communication behavior to improve communication effectiveness. This study is significant for understanding public health information communication behavior in health emergencies and providing government and organisations with high-quality guidance.
Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2023
Those affected by catastrophic events like hurricanes are burdened with the task of preparing for and responding to the threats of harm in addition to dealing with the emotionally taxing process of consuming and sharing disaster-related information. However, little is known about how threats and emotions during natural disasters impact media usage for information seeking and sharing. This study examined the relationship between the perceived threat of disasters (including disaster severity and involvement recognition), negative emotions, and information seeking and forwarding/sharing via different types of media. We surveyed over 600 adults in U.S. counties impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018. Our findings show that negative crisis emotions mediated the relationship between threat appraisals and information seeking and sharing behaviors. In our discussion, we suggest how disaster/emergency communication professionals can prepare and respond to disasters by knowing how emotions influence individuals’ communicative behaviors.
Proceeding Paper, https://ifig.uskudar.edu.tr//uploads/content/files/8ifig-tammetinbildirilerkitabi.pdf Abstract The COVID-19 virus had first emerged in China in late 2019 and spread almost all over the world in a short time period. The pandemic affected Spain, Italy, France, and United Kingdom as the worst hit countries in Europe. The major threat derived from the pandemic has shown that not only in Europe but all over the world, an efficient crisis and risk communication has been required. This study aims to explore what kind of role social media plays in disseminating information as a part of crisis and risk communication. In this regard, this study is an attempt to analyze the role of social media in accessing information during crisis times evident in pandemic days. The increasing use of social media is visible in an age of crisis communication. Using the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication (SMCC) model as the theoretical framework, this study argues that in the context of a crisis, multiple "publics" and / or "audiences" exist in the world of social media. The SMCC model emphasizes the role of both the direct and indirect flow of information across social media, as well as between traditional media actors and social media actors. The SMCC model is a useful tool for communication in emergency situations such as the pandemics. Through social media, information exchanged in emergency times has the potential to engage with multiple sorts of audiences.
Searching, sharing, acting: How audiences assess and respond to social media messages about hazards
International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters.
This study uses a controlled experiment to examine the decisions social media users make in large- and small-scale emergencies. Employing a uses and gratifications perspective and drawing a diverse sample from an urban research university, it finds that hazard message features such as proximity and authority affect social media users’ perceptions about the salience and sufficiency of the information they receive, as well as the computer-mediated communication choices they make after their exposure to such messages. Results suggest that layering messages across new and old media platforms can offer promising results for emergency communicators using social media tools as well as for traditional mass media positioning themselves in the new media environment.
Crisis Communications in the Age of Social Media
Social Science Computer Review, 2017
While emerging technologies such as social media have demonstrated value for crisis communications, significant question remains regarding how these tools can be most effectively leveraged to facilitate the flow of valid information under crisis conditions. In an effort to address these issues, this article examines the use of Twitter during the 2015–2016 Zika virus outbreak in the United States. Particular attention is paid to network structures within the Zika conversation and how different actors and communities contribute to the flow of information throughout the broader Twitter community. Public-facing organizations can benefit from a deeper understanding of the nature and structure of spontaneously occurring communities on social media as well as the types of content that they create and circulate. As such, these findings have significant implications for the development of effective social media strategies during natural disasters and public health emergencies. In particular,...
A Triad of Crisis Communication in the United States
International Journal of Technoethics, 2012
The United States experienced a core-shaking tumble from their pedestal of superpower at the beginning of the 21st century, facing three intertwined crises which revealed a need for change: the financial system collapse, lack of proper healthcare and government turmoil, and growing impatience with the War on Terror. This paper explores the American governments’ and citizens’ use of social network sites (SNS), namely Facebook and YouTube, to conceptualize and debate about national crises, in order to bring about social change, a notion that is synonymous with societal improvement on a national level. Drawing on democratic theories of communication, the public sphere, and emerging scholarship on the Right to Communicate, this study reveals the advantageous nature of SNS for political means: from citizen to citizen, government to citizen, and citizen to government. Furthermore, SNS promote government transparency, and provide citizens with a forum to pose questions to the White House, ...
Advancements in agricultural development, 2022
The spread of accurate and inaccurate information happened quickly in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and understanding how this occurred is important to prepare for communication of future disease outbreaks. The purpose of this study was to understand Americans' information seeking and sharing behaviors during the early stages of COVID-19 and was guided by the following objectives: identify passive sources/channels of information; identify active sources/channels of information; and describe how frequently and across which channels/sources the U.S. public shared information about COVID-19 in early stages of the pandemic. Results indicated people first found information about COVID-19 from personal communication but turned to national and international organizations if they were to actively seek information. Scientists and universities were some of the least sought after and shared sources of information. The sources shared most were from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Implications from this research are a need for communicators to use grassroots communication efforts during a crisis, to actively share information early during a crisis, to share information outside of traditional academic networks, and to collaborate with sources inside and outside of traditional Extension networks.