Social Media and Crisis Communication

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Social Media and Crisis Communication

Assoc. Prof. Axel BrunsARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbane, Australia

a.bruns@qut.edu.auhttp://mappingonlinepublics.net/ @snurb_dot_info

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Social Media during Crises

o Various platforms:o Facebook, Twitter – updates and informationo YouTube, Flickr, Twitpic – first-hand video and photoso Google Maps, Ushahidi – map-based information mashups Different tools for different purposes

o Various levels of maturity:o Uses and use practices still developingo Different demographic reach

o Technological differences:o e.g. Facebook: built around personal networks; semi-private;

discussion threadso e.g. Twitter: open, flat network; public #hashtag conversations;

update stream

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Why Twitter?

o Researching Twitter:o Significant world-wide social networko ~200 million users (but how many active?)

o ~2 million users in Australia

o Varied range of uses: from everyday communication to emergency coordination

o Flat and open network structure: non-reciprocal following, public profiles by default

o Hashtags as a flexible, ad hoc response mechanismo Good API for gathering data for research and operational use

How can Twitter be used for crisis information and community resilience?

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The 2011 Queensland Floods

o Chronology:o December 2010 to January 2011: unprecedented

rainfallo Emergency declared for more than 50% of Queenslando Wivenhoe dam reaches 180% capacity

o December 2010: Flooding in northern Queensland

o January 2011: Floods in southeast Queenslando 10 January 2011: flash flooding in Toowoombao 10 January 2011: ‘inland tsunami’ in the Lockyer Valleyo 11 January 2011: flooding begins in Ipswicho 12-16 January 2011: major flooding in Brisbane

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(Google Maps)

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(Google Maps)

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(ABC News)

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(ABC News)

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(news.com.au)

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(ABC News)

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(ABC News)

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(ABC News)

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#qldfloods Tweets

10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011

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10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011

#qldfloods from Toowoomba to Brisbane

#qldfloods @mentions

mainstream media

authorities

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The Queensland Floods Community

o Self-organisation:o Rapid establishment of #qldfloods hashtago Ad hoc development of community structureso Highlighting of leading accounts, vigilant against disruptiono Suspension of petty squabbles (e.g. state politics)

o Innovation and rapid prototyping:o Adjunct hashtags (#Mythbuster, #bakedrelief)o Sharing and gathering of online resourceso Additional tools (Google Maps, Ushahidi Maps)o Emergency services rapidly adopting social media tools

(despite lack of established strategies)

‘Go where they are’ rather than ‘build it and they will come’

See CCI Report: #qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods (http://cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf)

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Major Information Sources Remain Important

@abcnews

@612brisbane

@couriermail

@sunriseon7

@QPSMedia

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Message Amplification on Twitter

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Just the Facts: Selective Retweeting

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What Links Are Shared?

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What Do Users Tweet About during a Crisis?

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Content Patterns: #qldfloods vs. @QPSMedia

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Retweet Rates in @QPSMedia Conversations

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Beyond the Queensland Floods

o Further outlook:o Need to build on #qldfloods experienceo Maintain momentum of @QPSMedia and other lead accountso Review what did/didn’t work, improve communication

strategieso Analyse and work with community communication patterns

o Cultivate potential lead users:o Who (institutions / individuals) was most active / influential?o How can they be identified as crises unfold?o Are they the usual suspects (e.g. community leaders), or not?o How stable are such communication structures?

Will social media use look similar next time around?

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2010/11 Christchurch Earthquakes

o Series of earthquakes:o 4 Sep. 2010 – M7.1

o Major structural damage, limited injurieso 22 Feb. 2011 – M6.3

o Substantial devastation, major casualtieso 13 June 2011 – M6.3

o Major aftershock, further liquefactiono 23 Dec. 2011 – M5.1-6.0

o Major aftershocks

o Significant use of social media – e.g. Twitter: #eqnz

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(NZ Herald)

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(NZ Herald)

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(NZ Herald)

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#eqnz: Number of Unique Users Discussing the 2010/11 Earthquakes

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Twitter and the 22 Feb. Christchurch Earthquake: #eqnz

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#eqnz: Contribution by Different User Groups (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

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#eqnz: @replies Received (Including Manual Retweets; 22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

mainstream news

authorities

utilities

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#eqnz: Manual Retweets and @replies (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

o Changing @reply patterns with the move from rescue to recovery:

22-24 Feb 2011 25 Feb. - 3 Mar. 2011Retweets @replies Retweets @replies

nzherald 5748 713 CEQgovtnz 3349 121NZStuff 1736 312 nzherald 2227 447AnthonyBaxter 1590 62 ChristchurchCC 1830 272TVNZnews 1503 208 NZcivildefence 561 72georgedarroch 1399 55 NZStuff 532 173TelecomNZ 1289 592 NewstalkZB 431 43abcnews 1131 127 operationSAFE 399 547StephenFry 1094 44 nz_quake 350 22vodafonenz 1071 559 TelecomNZ 314 163CEQgovtnz 689 137 VMGiving 277 9rgoodchild 577 125 NZTopModelColin 271 128ChristchurchCC 573 211 georgedarroch 270 6NewstalkZB 554 44 NZRedCross 268 207SocialMedia_NZ 491 26 eqnz_live 240 29HuffingtonPost 478 25 3NewsNZ 200 28

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#eqnz: Contribution by Different User Groups in Each Event

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#eqnz: Visibility of Leading Accounts in Each Event

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Twitter and the Christchurch Earthquake

o Towards better strategies for social media in disasters:o February 2011 earthquake building on lessons learnt in

September 2010o #eqnz and key Twitter accounts already establishedo Several key accounts sharing the load and dividing responsibilities

o More sophisticated use of Twitter by residents and authorities

o Clear shift in attention after the immediate rescue phase:o Marked differences in list of most @replied/retweeted accountso Some tracking of current problems / issues / fears may be

possibleo Decline in overall tweet volume / diversification of #hashtags?

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Social Media and Crisis Communication

o Twitter research:o Develop better tools and metrics for evaluating social media

communicationo In-depth analysis of communication patterns reveals how social media

are usedo Real-time analytics: highlight key current issues, identify weak signals

of crisiso Monitor and improve effectiveness of social media communication

strategies by emergency services

o Social media uses:o Inform, share, amplify, support, reassure, organiseo Need to track and work with user community: follow their conventions

(e.g. #eqnz hashtag)o Two-way communication where feasible – more than broadcast

messageso Provide community with tools to self-organise for resilience

Hash

tag

Metrics

(Bruns & Stieglitz, forthcoming)

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@snurb_dot_info@jeanburgess@_StephenH@DrTNitins@timhighfield@cdtavijit