Many now see the facebook,twitter and others as a disaster/crisis response.it is thereby showing a way in helping the goverment&authoritys through their own persponal initiative with their devices.When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the
U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Facebook was
the new kid on the block. There was no
Twitter for news updates, and the
iPhone was not yet on the scene. By the
time Hurricane Sandy slammed the
eastern seaboard last year, social media
had become an integral part of disaster
response, filling the void in areas where
cell phone service was lost while millions
of Americans looked to resources
including Twitter and Facebook to keep
informed, locate loved ones, notify
authorities and express support. Gone
are the days of one-way communication
where only official sources provide
bulletins on disaster news.
Researchers have now started publishing
data on the use of social media in
disasters, and lawmakers and security
experts have begun to assess how
emergency management can best adapt.
“The convergence of social networks
and mobile has thrown the old response
playbook out the window,” Michael
Beckerman, president and CEO of the
Internet Association, told the House
Subcommittee on Emergency
Preparedness, Response, and
Communications on June 4.
The new playbook will not do away with
the emergency broadcast system and
other government efforts. Rather, it
will incorporate new data from
researchers, federal agencies and
nonprofits that have begun to reveal
the exact penetration of social media in
disasters.
The Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) wrote in its 2013
National Preparedness report last week
that during and immediately following
Hurricane Sandy, “users sent more than
20 million Sandy-related Twitter posts,
or “tweets,” despite the loss of cell
phone service during the peak of the
storm.” New Jersey’s largest utility
company, PSE&G, said at the
subcommittee hearing that during
Sandy they staffed up their Twitter
feeds and used them to send word about
the daily locations of their giant tents
and generators. “At one point during
the storm, we sent so many tweets to
alert customers, we exceeded the
[number] of tweets allowed per day,”
PSE&G’S Jorge Cardenas, vice
president of asset management and
centralized services, told the
subcommittee.
Following the Boston Marathon
bombings, one quarter of Americans
reportedly looked to Facebook, Twitter
and other social networking sites for
information, according to The Pew
Research Center. The sites also formed
a key part of the information cycle:
when the Boston Police Department
posted its final “CAPTURED!!!” tweet of
the manhunt, more than 140,000 people
retweeted it. Community members via a
simple Google document offered
strangers lodging, food or a hot shower
when roads and hotels were closed.
Google also adapted its Person Finder
from previous use with natural disasters.
Each disaster sparks its own complex web
of fast-paced information exchange.
That’s a good thing, says Mark Keim,
associate director for science in the
Office of Environmental Health
Emergencies at the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
it can both improve disaster response
and allow affected populations to take
control of their situation as well as feel
empowered.
Drawing up an effective social media
strategy and tweaking it to fit an
emergency, however, is a crucial part of
preparedness planning, says disaster
sociologist Jeannette Sutton, a senior
research scientist at the University of
Colorado at Colorado Springs who
studies social media in crises and
disaster. For the Boston Marathon
incident, she found no consistent
hashtag on Twitter, which can make
tracking relevant information difficult.
Even searching for the word “Boston”
may fall short, she says, because it
could lead to unrelated matter like
Boston tourism or fail to capture
relevant tweets that did not include the
word Boston.
As part of disaster preparedness, she
says, it would be useful to teach the
public how to use social media
effectively, how to get information
from the Web and also how to put out
useful information. “Tweets flow so
quickly it’s like a fire hose where you’re
trying to extract bits of information
that are relevant.”
All the fast-paced information
available via social media does pose
inherent risks when navigating
emergency situations. One is the rapid
spread of misinformation—as was the
case after the Boston bombings with
the identification of a missing man as a
possible suspect. Although mistakes
often get fixed via the “Wikipedia
effect,” in which other users correct
the errors, Sutton notes that false
information can easily go viral. Rumor
Control , run by FEMA, attempts to nip
misinformation in the bud, but in
general there are no clear lines about
who has responsibility to police social
media information or how—or even if—
that would work.
Another key risk is scammers using social
media to steal cash. Whereas the
American Red Cross proved that new
technologies can efficiently raise money
for humanitarian assistance, generating
more than $5 million via text message
donations in the 48 hours following the
Haiti earthquake in 2010, the FBI has
warned that social media can also be a
lucrative platform for scam artists that
crop up in the wake of tragedy. After
the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, for
example, the FBI arrested a woman who
allegedly claimed to be the relative of a
dead victim and solicited money via
Facebook and other sources.
The Haiti earthquake is often pointed to
as the watershed moment that changed
how social media is used in disasters.
Social media was independently evolving
in the years leading up to 2010, but the
size and inherent emotional appeal of
that disaster created the right
environment for it to flourish, says
CDC’s Keim. “I think what we’re seeing
now is the beginning of an age where its
very difficult to predict what will be the
next outlet [in disasters],” he says.
“These things are spontaneous and meet
unique needs in the same way that you
couldn’t predict what app on your
smartphone you may need or want in
the next year.”
U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Facebook was
the new kid on the block. There was no
Twitter for news updates, and the
iPhone was not yet on the scene. By the
time Hurricane Sandy slammed the
eastern seaboard last year, social media
had become an integral part of disaster
response, filling the void in areas where
cell phone service was lost while millions
of Americans looked to resources
including Twitter and Facebook to keep
informed, locate loved ones, notify
authorities and express support. Gone
are the days of one-way communication
where only official sources provide
bulletins on disaster news.
Researchers have now started publishing
data on the use of social media in
disasters, and lawmakers and security
experts have begun to assess how
emergency management can best adapt.
“The convergence of social networks
and mobile has thrown the old response
playbook out the window,” Michael
Beckerman, president and CEO of the
Internet Association, told the House
Subcommittee on Emergency
Preparedness, Response, and
Communications on June 4.
The new playbook will not do away with
the emergency broadcast system and
other government efforts. Rather, it
will incorporate new data from
researchers, federal agencies and
nonprofits that have begun to reveal
the exact penetration of social media in
disasters.
The Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) wrote in its 2013
National Preparedness report last week
that during and immediately following
Hurricane Sandy, “users sent more than
20 million Sandy-related Twitter posts,
or “tweets,” despite the loss of cell
phone service during the peak of the
storm.” New Jersey’s largest utility
company, PSE&G, said at the
subcommittee hearing that during
Sandy they staffed up their Twitter
feeds and used them to send word about
the daily locations of their giant tents
and generators. “At one point during
the storm, we sent so many tweets to
alert customers, we exceeded the
[number] of tweets allowed per day,”
PSE&G’S Jorge Cardenas, vice
president of asset management and
centralized services, told the
subcommittee.
Following the Boston Marathon
bombings, one quarter of Americans
reportedly looked to Facebook, Twitter
and other social networking sites for
information, according to The Pew
Research Center. The sites also formed
a key part of the information cycle:
when the Boston Police Department
posted its final “CAPTURED!!!” tweet of
the manhunt, more than 140,000 people
retweeted it. Community members via a
simple Google document offered
strangers lodging, food or a hot shower
when roads and hotels were closed.
Google also adapted its Person Finder
from previous use with natural disasters.
Each disaster sparks its own complex web
of fast-paced information exchange.
That’s a good thing, says Mark Keim,
associate director for science in the
Office of Environmental Health
Emergencies at the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
it can both improve disaster response
and allow affected populations to take
control of their situation as well as feel
empowered.
Drawing up an effective social media
strategy and tweaking it to fit an
emergency, however, is a crucial part of
preparedness planning, says disaster
sociologist Jeannette Sutton, a senior
research scientist at the University of
Colorado at Colorado Springs who
studies social media in crises and
disaster. For the Boston Marathon
incident, she found no consistent
hashtag on Twitter, which can make
tracking relevant information difficult.
Even searching for the word “Boston”
may fall short, she says, because it
could lead to unrelated matter like
Boston tourism or fail to capture
relevant tweets that did not include the
word Boston.
As part of disaster preparedness, she
says, it would be useful to teach the
public how to use social media
effectively, how to get information
from the Web and also how to put out
useful information. “Tweets flow so
quickly it’s like a fire hose where you’re
trying to extract bits of information
that are relevant.”
All the fast-paced information
available via social media does pose
inherent risks when navigating
emergency situations. One is the rapid
spread of misinformation—as was the
case after the Boston bombings with
the identification of a missing man as a
possible suspect. Although mistakes
often get fixed via the “Wikipedia
effect,” in which other users correct
the errors, Sutton notes that false
information can easily go viral. Rumor
Control , run by FEMA, attempts to nip
misinformation in the bud, but in
general there are no clear lines about
who has responsibility to police social
media information or how—or even if—
that would work.
Another key risk is scammers using social
media to steal cash. Whereas the
American Red Cross proved that new
technologies can efficiently raise money
for humanitarian assistance, generating
more than $5 million via text message
donations in the 48 hours following the
Haiti earthquake in 2010, the FBI has
warned that social media can also be a
lucrative platform for scam artists that
crop up in the wake of tragedy. After
the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, for
example, the FBI arrested a woman who
allegedly claimed to be the relative of a
dead victim and solicited money via
Facebook and other sources.
The Haiti earthquake is often pointed to
as the watershed moment that changed
how social media is used in disasters.
Social media was independently evolving
in the years leading up to 2010, but the
size and inherent emotional appeal of
that disaster created the right
environment for it to flourish, says
CDC’s Keim. “I think what we’re seeing
now is the beginning of an age where its
very difficult to predict what will be the
next outlet [in disasters],” he says.
“These things are spontaneous and meet
unique needs in the same way that you
couldn’t predict what app on your
smartphone you may need or want in
the next year.”
