Social media in emergencies: How useful can they be

The widespread use and integration of social media into the daily lives of many citizens has also resulted in their widespread use during emergency situation. Due to the possible reach of social media, their real-time character and multimedia integration they can be, to some extent, practical emergency communication tools. However, drawbacks such as unconfirmed or unreliable information, privacy issues and possible technical problems limit their usefulness. To get a more differentiated view on the usefulness of social media, the perceived usefulness of various social media channels (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter) as well as Apps in different phases of emergencies was investigated. Furthermore, besides different social media and different phases, two kinds of usage were investigated, namely information exchange and behavior instructions. A total sample of 1147 participants from eight European countries participated in this study. As a method, a vignette approach was chosen to systematically vary the three factors of social media, phase of emergency and usage. The implications are that rather than treating social media channels in general, it is important to consider them separately and to consider the different phases of the emergency cycle (i.e. preparedness, response and recovery). All in all, the results illustrate that social media offer great potentials in all phases of an emergency with a specific focus on before and after. They can be used to provide people with emergency relevant information and even support the appropriate behavior with respect to the emergency.

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