Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations

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Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations

Source

Quick Facts

Publishing Organisation:
Congressional Research Service
Year:
2011
Primary Target Country:
United States of America
Languages:
English
Status:
Published
Covers Thematic
  • Crisis communication Crisis communication is a strategic approach to corresponding with people and organizations during a disruptive event. When a crisis occurs, proactive, quick and detailed communication is critical.</br></br></br>Source: www.techtarget.com/searchdisasterrecovery/definition/crisis-communication
  • Legal/Standards Legal Requirement means any federal, state, local, municipal, foreign or other law, statute, constitute, principle of common law, resolution, ordinance, code, edict, decree, rule, regulation, ruling or requirement issued, enacted, adopted, promulgated, implemented or otherwise put into effect by or under the authority of any Governmental Body. </br></br>Source: https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/legal-requirement</br></br>Standards are voluntary documents that set out specifications, procedures and guidelines that aim to ensure products, services, and systems are safe, consistent, and reliable. They cover a variety of subjects, including consumer products and services, the environment, construction, energy and water utilities, and more.</br></br>Source: https://www.standards.org.au/standards-development/what-is-standard
  • Social Media Strategy A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress</br></br>Source:https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan
  • Verification Verification is an extra or final bit of proof that establishes something is true.</br>To verify something is to make sure it's correct or true, so verification is an action that establishes the truth of something.</br></br>Source: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/verification
    • Target audience
  • Policy Makers local, national, and European agencies and institutes, public authorities, standardization bodies
  • Practitioners Practitioners is a target group in LINKS which comprises local, national and European disaster management organizations, civil protection agencies, first responders, NGOs, security networks...
    • Audience experience level
  • Intermediate Those who currently use social media to communicate with the public and have developed a draft social media strategy, even if this is not thoroughly documented or communicated across the organisation</br></br>Source: https://www.fp7-emergent.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/20170529_D7.3_Guidelines_to_increase_the_benefit_of_social_media_EmerGent.pdf
  • Starter Those who are not currently using social media, or the current use is based on providing general information and advice to citizens</br></br>Source: https://www.fp7-emergent.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/20170529_D7.3_Guidelines_to_increase_the_benefit_of_social_media_EmerGent.pdf
    • Disaster Management Phase
  • After Also referred to as 'Recovery Phase'</br></br>The restoring or improving of livelihoods and health, as well as economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets, systems and activities, of a disaster-affected community or society, aligning with the principles of sustainable development and “build back better”, to avoid or reduce future disaster risk.</br></br>Source: https://www.undrr.org/terminology/recovery
  • Before Comprises 'Preparedness Phase' and 'Prevention Phase'</br></br>Preparedness action is carried out within the context of disaster risk management and aims to build the capacities needed to efficiently manage all types of emergencies and achieve orderly transitions from response to sustained recovery.</br></br>Source: https://www.undrr.org/terminology/preparedness</br></br>Prevention (i.e., disaster prevention) expresses the concept and intention to completely avoid potential adverse impacts of hazardous events.</br></br>Source: https://www.undrr.org/terminology/prevention
  • During Also referred to as "Response Phase"</br></br>Actions taken directly before, during or immediately after a disaster in order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected.</br></br>Annotation: Disaster response is predominantly focused on immediate and short-term needs and is sometimes called disaster relief. Effective, efficient and timely response relies on disaster risk-informed preparedness measures, including the development of the response capacities of individuals, communities, organizations, countries and the international community.</br></br>Source: https://www.undrr.org/terminology/response
    • Synopsis

    Potential use of Social Media

    The use of social media for emergencies and disasters may be conceptualized as two broad categories.

    • First, social media can be used somewhat passively to disseminate information and receive user feedback via incoming messages, wall posts, and polls.
    • A second approach involves the systematic use of social media as an emergency management tool.
      • Systematic usage might include Public Safety and Crisis Information, Notifications, Emergency Warnings and Alerts, Situational Awareness and Citizen Communications, Requests for Assistance by citizens and Social Media and Recovery Efforts


    Lessons Learned and Best Practices

    There are a number of “lessons learned” and “best practices” when using social media for emergency management objectives. These include the need to:

    • identify target audiences for the applications, such as civilians, nongovernmental organizations, volunteers, and participating governments
    • determine appropriate types of information for dissemination
    • disseminate information the public is interested in (e.g. what phase the incident is in, etc.)
    • identify any negative consequences arising from the application—such as the potential spread


    Potential Policy Implications

    While there may be some potential advantages to using social media for emergencies and disasters, there may also be some potential policy issues and drawbacks associated with its use; e.g.

    • Inaccurate Information
    • Malicious Use of Social Media During Disasters
    • Technological Limitations
    • Administrative Cost Considerations
    • Privacy Issues


    Please note: Access to the following links is currently only available for project partners

    Key facts : Social Media in disaster policies https://safetyinnovationcenter.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/LINKS_shared/Freigegebene%20Dokumente/WP4/Guidelines/Guideline%20Documents/Working%20documents/Action%20cards/G25_SM%20and%20disasters_policy%20considerations_extract_level2.pdf

    Social Media in disaster policies - considerations https://safetyinnovationcenter.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/LINKS_shared/Freigegebene%20Dokumente/WP4/Guidelines/Guideline%20Documents/Working%20documents/Action%20cards/G25_SM%20and%20disasters_policy%20considerations_extract_level1.pdf

    Linked to


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