Characterization of the Use of Social Media in Natural Disasters: A Systematic Review

Abedin, Babak; Babar, Abdul; Abbasi, Alireza

doi:10.1109/bdcloud.2014.17

Cited by 28 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Disasters are complex in nature, which may have disproportionate effects at varying speed. Information exchange is pivotal during the disaster management processes (i.e., prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery), particularly in the response phase, as the dynamic and complex nature of the extreme natural disasters increases the rate of communication between stakeholders (Abedin et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional vs. Non-institutional use of Social Media during Emergency Response: A Case of Twitter in 2014 Australian Bush Fire

Abedin

Babar

2017

Inf Syst Front

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Social media plays a significant role in rapid propagation of information when disasters occur. Among the four phases of disaster management life cycle: prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery, this paper focuses on the use of social media during the response phase. It empirically examines the use of microblogging platforms by Emergency Response Organisations (EROs) during extreme natural events, and distinguishes the use of Twitter by EROs from digital volunteers during a fire hazard occurred in Australia state of Victoria in early February 2014. We analysed 7,982 tweets on this event. While traditionally theories such as World System Theory and Institutional Theory focus on the role of powerful institutional information outlets, we found that platforms like Twitter challenge such notion by sharing the power between large institutional (e.g. EROs) and smaller non-institutional players (e.g. digital volunteers) in the dissemination of disaster information. Our results highlight that both large EROs and individual digital volunteers proactively used Twitter to disseminate and distribute fire related information. We also found that the contents of tweets were more informative than directive, and that while the total number of messages posted by top EROs were more than the non-institutional ones, whereas non-institutions exceeded on tweets and sharing of the tweets.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional vs. Non-institutional use of Social Media during Emergency Response: A Case of Twitter in 2014 Australian Bush Fire

Abedin

Babar

2017

Inf Syst Front

Self Cite

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“…Social networks have been defined as ‘online venues for information sharing and social communication, where users create public profiles, interact with friends, and connect with other users’ (Masedu et al, , p. 1). Although social media is currently used in combination with traditional measures, during many recent extreme events it has actually been preeminent, broadcasting vital information before mainstream media (Murthy and Longwell, ; Cho et al, ; Abedin et al, ; Huang and Xiao, ; Takahashi et al, ). Furthermore, social media has become significantly instrumental in diminishing the communication gap between emergency services and individuals located in inaccessible areas during the aftermath of a disaster (Ehnis and Bunker, ; Cho et al, ; Neubaum et al, ; Takahashi et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of Facebook and Twitter as organisational communication platforms in relation to flood events in Northern Ireland

Stephenson¹,

Vaganay²,

Coon³

et al. 2017

J Flood Risk Management

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Social media networks enable flood‐affected individuals to obtain and share credible information; however, their full potential is not recognised by official institutions. This study evaluates flood‐related usage of Facebook and Twitter by organisations in Northern Ireland. Data collection involved extraction of publicly visible flood‐related Facebook and Twitter posts, over a 9‐month period, from official accounts of selected organisations. NVivo was used to conduct a content analysis of the data. The results concluded that flood‐related information are predominantly distributed at the flood response stage, illustrating the present reactive social media presence of organisations. Twitter accounted for a higher proportion of broadcasting information, while Facebook was more likely to encourage specific behaviour. Public preference was associated with information provided by emergency services and information transmitted at the response stage. Policy implications include the need for an established proactive social media presence among organisations with a flood‐related function and community consultation to identify public information needs.

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“…Veil et al (2011) used the guidelines as a basis for a literature review and analysis which showed that "social media can be used to assist organizations in following best practices in risk and crisis communication" (Veil et al, 2011, p. 118). Abedin, Babar, and Abbasi (2014), conducting a literature review on social media for disaster relief, found that social media generally is considered an effective platform to create situational awareness among communities. Emergency responders can use social media to understand the sentiments of communities, and thus tailor crisis information to address the information needs and mitigate rumours.…”

Section: Using Social Media For Crisis Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informing crisis alerts using social media: Best practices and proof of concept

Brynielsson

Granåsen

Lindquist

et al. 2017

Contingencies & Crisis Mgmt

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Social media has become an integrated part of human communication, both as a means to establish and maintain social relationships, and as a means of sharing and co-creating information. Social media comes with an array of possibilities for individuals as well as organizations, corporations, and authorities. Within the field of crisis communication, social media possibilities such as online sharing and social networking have had an impact on the way crisis information is disseminated and updated. This paper addresses the issues related to using social media for communicating crisis information and broadcasting alert messages to the general population, discusses the role of social media in future pan-European crisis alerting, and presents a prototype system demonstrating the possibilities. An extensive systematic literature review was carried out to identify factors that affect the use of social media for alerting and warning. These factors were mirrored in experiences, collected through interviews, obtained by emergency management organizations in three European countries (Sweden, Czech Republic, and Spain). The factors finally form the basis for suggestions and recommendations regarding the design of technological tools for both communication and information collection to serve as an integral part of a future pan-European crisis alerting system.

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Characterization of the Use of Social Media in Natural Disasters: A Systematic Review

Cited by 28 publications

References 23 publications

Institutional vs. Non-institutional use of Social Media during Emergency Response: A Case of Twitter in 2014 Australian Bush Fire

Institutional vs. Non-institutional use of Social Media during Emergency Response: A Case of Twitter in 2014 Australian Bush Fire

The role of Facebook and Twitter as organisational communication platforms in relation to flood events in Northern Ireland

Informing crisis alerts using social media: Best practices and proof of concept

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