What do citizens communicate about during crises? Analyzing twitter use during the 2011 UK riots

Abstract

The use of social media during crises has been explored in a variety of natural and man-made crisis situations. Yet, most of these studies have focused exclusively on the communication strategies and messages sent by crisis responders. Surprisingly little research has been done on how crisis publics (i.e., those people interested in or affected by the crisis) use social media during such events. Our article addresses this gap in the context of citizens' Twitter use during the 2011 riots in the UK. Focusing on communications with and about police forces in two cities, we analyzed 5,984 citizen tweets collected during the event for content and sentiment. Comparing the two cases, our findings suggest that citizens' Twitter communication follows a general logic of concerns, but can also be influenced very easily by single, non-crisis related events such as perceived missteps in a police force's Twitter communication. Our study provides insights into citizens' concerns and communication patterns during crises adding to our knowledge about the dynamics of citizens' use of social media in such times. It further highlights the fragmentation in Twitter audiences especially in later stages of the crisis. These observations can be utilized by police forces to help determine the appropriate organizational responses that facilitate coping across various stages of crisis events. In addition, they illustrate limitations in current theoretical understandings of crisis response strategies, adding the requirement for adaptivity, flexibility and ambiguity in organizational responses to address the observed plurivocality of crisis audiences.

Crisis Informatics in the Context of Social Media Crisis Communication: Theoretical Models, Taxonomy, and Open Issues

“…Specifically [56] addresses the use and adoption of social media-based tools for crisis communication, social media taking part in managing a crisis. While [57] emphasised that an important component of crisis management is crisis communication.…”

“…During a critical event, communication serves several purposes from information collection, coordination, dissemination, planning and management, also building relationships according to [58] cited in [57]. It is no surprise why social media is such an important tool for crisis management services [59].…”

“…The model indicates the internet technologies as the trigger or enabler of crisis. The situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is the most widely used response strategy theory for crisis communication, which was extended and improved upon by several studies [57]. An enhancement of SCCT was proposed by [35], termed a social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC) that focuses on types of public, information sources and form.…”

“…The summary of various implementations and improvement of SCCT is presented in Appendix B (1). The study in [57], [60], [142], [143] are studies that did not mention any response strategy associated with the most dominant theory but literature evidence suggest that they are linked with traditional theory. Specifically, the study in [142] expanded the understanding of the role of social media in crisis communication, both the humanitarian and organisational crisis response.…”

The effectiveness of refutation with logic vs. indignation in restoring the credibility of and trust in a government organization: A heuristic‐systematic model of crisis communication processing

“…Public affairs officers at government organizations need to remain vigilant and continue to scan the environment for emerging issues that may challenge organizational legitimacy (Cutlip, 1976;Gascó, Bayerl, Denef, & Akhgar, 2017). If an emerging issue has the potential to threaten an organization's viability, the officers must swiftly communicate with the key publics, including the media, to address the issues with confidence, empathy, and transparency (Seeger, 2006).…”