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Message retransmission is a central aspect of information diffusion. In a disaster context, the passing on of official warning messages by members of the public also serves as a behavioral indicator of message salience, suggesting that particular messages are (or are not) perceived by the public to be both noteworthy and valuable enough to share with others. This study provides the first examination of terse message retransmission of official warning messages in response to a domestic terrorist attack, the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013. Using messages posted from public officials’ Twitter accounts that were active during the period of the Boston Marathon bombing and manhunt, we examine the features of messages that are associated with their retransmission. We focus on message content, style, and structure, as well as the networked relationships of message senders to answer the question: what characteristics of a terse message sent under conditions of imminent threat predict its retransmission among members of the public? We employ a negative binomial model to examine how message characteristics affect message retransmission. We find that, rather than any single effect dominating the process, retransmission of official Tweets during the Boston bombing response was jointly influenced by various message content, style, and sender characteristics. These findings suggest the need for more work that investigates impact of multiple factors on the allocation of attention and on message retransmission during hazard events.

For decades, public warning messages have been relayed via broadcast information channels, including radio and television; more recently, risk communication channels have expanded to include social media sites, where messages can be easily amplified by user retransmission. This research examines the factors that predict the extent of retransmission for official hazard communications disseminated via Twitter. Using data from events involving five different hazards, we identity three types of attributes-local network properties, message content, and message style-that jointly amplify and/or attenuate the retransmission of official communications under imminent threat. We find that the use of an agreed-upon hashtag and the number of users following an official account positively influence message retransmission, as does message content describing hazard impacts or emphasizing cohesion among users. By contrast, messages directed at individuals, expressing gratitude, or including a URL were less widely disseminated than similar messages without these features. Our findings suggest that some measures commonly taken to convey additional information to the public (e.g., URL inclusion) may come at a cost in terms of message amplification; on the other hand, some types of content not traditionally emphasized in guidance on hazard communication may enhance retransmission rates.nder conditions of imminent threat, rapid communication of warning information to the public is a primary strategy for decreasing loss of life and increasing public safety by eliciting protective actions from those at risk (1). For decades, public warnings have been relayed via mass media channels, including radio, broadcast television, and sirens (2). With the advent of social computing, warnings have begun to be disseminated via online social networks (OSNs), where messages can be more easily propagated and amplified by the user population (3-6). Risk amplification via message retransmission in this setting is important because it enables a message to reach individuals beyond the sender's direct contacts, increasing exposure and potentially leading to lifesaving actions (7). Although such transmission occurs offline as well (8-11), OSNs offer the potential for the rapid retransmission of short messages with higher fidelity-and to more persons-than would typically be feasible via other means.In addition to enabling message diffusion, the clustered structure of most OSNs (12, 13) allows retransmission to expose individuals to the same message multiple times. Multiple exposures to messages have been linked to greater confidence in message veracity (14,15), which can lead to further sharing (16,17). Repeated exposures from multiple network ties are often a prerequisite for the spread of information through networks, and are of particular importance for inducing behavioral change (4,(18)(19)(20). Under conditions of imminent threat, exposure to a warning message from a trusted source (such as a neighbor, friend, or family member) strongly affects one's ...

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Informal online communication channels are being utilized for official communications in disaster contexts. Channels such as networked microblogging enable public officials to broadcast messages as well as engage in direct communication exchange with individuals. Here the authors investigate online information exchange behaviors of a set of state and federal organizations during the Deepwater Horizon 2010 oil spill disaster. Using data from the popular microblogging service, Twitter, they analyze the roles individual organizations play in the dissemination of information to the general public online, and the conversational aspects of official posts. The authors discuss characteristics and features of the following networks including actor centrality and differential mixing, as well as how structural features may affect information exchange in disasters. This research provides insight into the use of networked communications during an event of heightened public concern, describes implications of conversational features, and suggests directions for future research.