D2.5 New Social Media

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D2.5Newsocialmedia

TELLMETransparentcommunicationinEpidemics:LearningLessonsfrom

experience,deliveringeffectiveMessages,providingEvidence.

Project cofundedby the EuropeanCommissionwithinthe 7th Framework

ProgrammeHEALTHtheme

1stReportingperiod

WP2Newchallengesandnewmethodsforoutbreak

communication

ResponsiblePartner:BMJGroup

Contributingpartners:CSSC,HU

Duedateofthedeliverable:M6(July30th2012)

Actualsubmissiondate:M6(July30th2012)

Disseminationlevel:PU


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D2.5Newsocialmedia

TELLMEprojectGA:278723

2

D2.5Reportonnewsocialmedia

Task:2.5

Leader:BMJPGOthercontributors:CSSC,HU

Allrights

reserved

2012

TELLME

Project

http://www.tellmeproject.eu

PROJECTFULLTITLE Transparent communication in Epidemics: Learning Lessons from

experience,deliveringeffectiveMessages,providingEvidence.

PROJECTACRONYM

TELL

ME

CollaborativeProjectfundedunderThemeHEALTH.2011.2.3.33

Developmentofanevidencebasedbehaviouralandcommunication

packagetorespondtomajorepidemicsoutbreaks

GRANTAGREEMENT 278723

STARTINGDATE 01/02/2012

DURATION 36months


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TableofContents

EXECUTIVESUMMARY....................................................................................................................................................................4

1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................5

2. Backgroundoninternetandsocialmediause............................................................................................................6

2.1InternetcoverageintheEuropeanUnionandrestoftheworld.....................................................................6

2.2Timespentonsocialmediasites....................................................................................................................................6

2.3Cultureandsocialmedia....................................................................................................................................................7

2.4Healthcareandsocialmedia.............................................................................................................................................8

3. Reimagininghumancommunication............................................................................................................................10

3.1.Asurvivaltechnique.........................................................................................................................................................10

3.2Thephenomenonofsharing..........................................................................................................................................10

3.3Newsandsocialmedia.....................................................................................................................................................12

4. Previoususesofonlinecommunicationduringcrises.........................................................................................14

4.1Onlinecollaboration:SARS,2003................................................................................................................................14

4.2Socialmediacommunicationduringrecentpublicemergencies.................................................................16

4.2.1Howthepubliccommunicated............................................................................................................................16

4.2.2Howgovernmentsandhealthauthoritiescommunicated............... ............... ................ ............... .........17

5. Casestudiesofsocialmedia.............................................................................................................................................21

5.1HowdoesTwitterdealwithmisinformation?............ ............... ................ ............... ................ ............... ..............21

5.2Contentanalysisoftweetsduringthe2009H1N1pandemic.............. ............... ................ ............... ............24

6.Integratingsocialmediaintocrisiscommunicationstrategies............................................................................296.1Introductionandrationale.............................................................................................................................................29

6.2Theimportanceofsocialmediacommunicationduringacrisis..................................................................29

6.3Currentstateofplay..........................................................................................................................................................32

6.4@nhssmchatA:Socialmediaandemergencyplanning...................................................................................33

6.5@nhssmchatB:#fluscenario........................................................................................................................................35

6.6Conclusion..............................................................................................................................................................................37

7. SocialNetworkAnalysis.....................................................................................................................................................38

7.1Trackingcontagion.............................................................................................................................................................38

7.2Interceptingcontagion.....................................................................................................................................................40

8. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................41

9. References.................................................................................................................................................................................44

10. Appendices..........................................................................................................................................................................50

Appendix1.SocialNetworkingSitesforHealthProfessionals.............................................................................50

Appendix2:BMJand@nhssm#fluscenarioblog(ChatB).....................................................................................52


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EXECUTIVESUMMARYThisreportaimstosurveythepastandpotentialusesofsocialmediaduringepidemics.Itwillprovidean

overviewof thenumberofglobalcitizenswhocurrently interactandshare informationonsocialmedia

sites andhighlight how it isnow being used as a vital resource in keeping up todatewith developing

situations,asatechniqueforsurvival.

Socialmediaisbuiltontheprincipleofusergeneratedcontent,whichmeansthatuserscannowcontribute

towardsthecollectivebodyofinformationandknowledgedevelopedduringacrisis.Thisactivitycanbeof

usetoauthoritiesinvolvedincrisiscommunicationbecauseitcanalertthemtoconcernsormisinformation

expressed on social media platforms and can help them prepare responses that reflect visible and

quantifiableinformationneeds.Furthermore,socialmediaalsoappearstoencourageprosocialbehaviour,

whichmeansthatthemediumoftencompelsusers toshareuseful informationandresourceswitheach

other.Thishasthepotentialtobean importantassetforthose involved incrisiscommunicationandthe

promotionofprotectivebehaviours.

However,asthisreportemphasises,organisationsandindividualsinvolvedincrisiscommunicationcannot

affordsimplytobereactivetomessagessharedandposted inthiscompetitiveenvironment,rather,they

musttakeaproactivestanceinestablishinganauthoritativepresenceonsocialmediachannelsbeforeand

duringacrisis.Whilstusergeneratedcontentcanbeavaluableresourcetocrisiscommunicators,thereis

strongevidencethatthepublicrelyongoodqualityinformationfromofficialsourcestohelpcrossverify

andmakesenseofthemultitudeofsourcesavailableonsocialmediasites.Also,bybuildingacommunity

presenceonsocialmediabeforeacrisis,organisationswillbeintunewiththeiraudiencesneedsandcan

worktoinfluenceandshapethedirectionofdiscussionsastheyemerge.

Currently,useofsocialmedia incrisissituations isoftenapplied inconsistently,owning toorganisations

varying priorities and resources. This report highlights the benefits of using social media as crisis

communicationtool,aswellasidentifyingpotentialchallengesinintegratingitintoformalcommunication

strategies.

For

organisations

unconvinced

of

its

potential,

it

is

recommended

that

further

research

should

beundertaken toanalyse thedynamicsof the socialnetworks inorder tounderstandmoreabouthow

informationspreadsthroughthem. It isalsorecommendedthatorganisationsshoulddomoretoanalyse

thedatapostedonsocialmediasitesinamorescientificway,bycategorisingthetypesofmessagesbeing

posted, inordertoquantifyactualneedsexpressed,ratherthanperceivedneeds.Byassessingthesetwo

aspectsofsocialnetworks inmoredepth,crisiscommunicatorscouldbuildadatadrivenandtransparent

approachtocrisiscommunication.

Finally, this report will provide best practice guidelines on how organisations involved in crisis

communicationcanbuild,maintainandassertapresenceonsocialmedia.


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1. IntroductionInthenextinfluenzapandemic,beitnoworinthefuture,bethevirusmildorvirulent,thesinglemost

important weapon against the disease will be a vaccine. The second most important will be

communication. (Barry,2009,p.324)

Broadlyspeaking,socialmedia isamultiway informationsharingandcommunicationstool,whereusers

can converse and interactwith each other irrespectiveof differences in geographical location or social

background. Thedifferencebetween socialmedia (orWeb2.0 as it is sometimes known) andprevious

internetplatforms is that it ischaracterisedbyusergeneratedcontent. (Schein,Wilson&Keelen,2010,

p.4) Within social media, users are more thanjust consumers of information, as the design of such

platformsencouragesthemtoshareandcontributeinformationtothenetwork.McNabsuggeststhat:

Until recently thepredominant communicationmodel was one authority to many i.e. a

health institution,theministryofhealthorajournalistcommunicatingtothepublic.Socialmedia

haschangedthemonologuetoadialogue,whereanyonewithICTaccesscanbeacontentcreator

andcommunicator.(McNab,2009,para.4)

Inrecentyears,therehasbeenashifttowardssocialmediabeingusednotjustasaplatformtoconnect

with friendsand familybutas the firstplacewhereusers findoutaboutbreakingnews stories. (Ofcom,

2011, p.46) There is a suggestion that whilst commercial organisations are yet to harness the diverse

potentialofsocialmedia,theimmediacyofsocialmediamessagingiswellsuitedtocrisiscommunication.

Followingexamplesofcriseswheresocialmediahasbeenusedasanefficientmeansofcommunication,

YatesandPaquette (2010)concluded thatdisaster responsemaybe the idealenvironment for proving

theworthofsocialmediaasaseriousknowledgemanagementplatform.(CitedinDufty,2012,p.42)The

increasinguseofsocialmediaasakeyinformationresourcemakesitapowerfuluserledmediumthatcan

beused

to

collect

and

disseminate

information

during

acrisis.

Thisreportwillcovertheuseofsocialmediaasacrisiscommunicationstool.Itwillshowhowsocialmedia

encourages a culture of sharing and collaboration and analyse how this has manifested in previous

emergenciestohelpspreadpublichealthmessages.Thisreportwillalsoincludecasestudiesonhowsocial

media has been used to track public sentiment and how analysis of this data could inform future

communicationstrategies. Inaddition,theBMJGroup,onbehalfoftheTELLMEprojecthasconductedan

opinionsurveyofmembersof theNHSSocialMedia (@nhssm)Twittercommunitytodiscusshowsocial

mediacouldbebetter integrated intohealthorganisationscommunicationsstrategies. Itshouldalsobe

notedthatthisreportwillnotattempttocovereveryaspectofsocialmediabutintendstohighlightsocial

media platforms as a viable and important tool for crisis communication, as well as identifying the

challengesofintegratingsocialmediaintoemergencyplanningpreparations.


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2. BackgroundoninternetandsocialmediauseThissectionofthereportwillgivesomebackgroundontheuptakeofsocialmediaasameanstogivean

overviewofitsgrowinguseandinfluenceinmoderndaycommunications.

2.1InternetcoverageintheEuropeanUnionandrestoftheworldThe International Telecommunication Union (2011, p.1) estimates that 35 per cent of the worlds

populationuse the internet,a figurewhichhasgoneupby17percentbetween2006and2011 (Fig.1)

Duringthisfiveyearperiod,theproportionofdevelopingcountrieswhoareinternetusersinparticularhas

risenfrom44to62percent.

Figure1. ShareofInternetusersinthetotalpopulation.WithpermissionfromtheInternationalTelecommunicationsUnion.TakenfromTheWorldin2011:ICTFactsandFigures.ITU(2011)Retrievedfromhttp://www.itu.int/ITU

D/ict/facts/2011/material/ICTFactsFigures2011.pdf

Whilst

many

organisations

may

view

internet

or

social

media

use

as

largely

the

remit

of

younger

generations,according tosome reportsup to476millionEuropeans,ofallage ranges,use the internet.

This accounts for approximately65 per centof the population, and thenumber continues to rise. (IAB

Europe,2012,para.3)EstimatesforthetimeanaverageEuropeaninternetuserspendsonlineis27.6hours

permonth,whichexceedstheglobalmeanof24.5hours. (comScore,2012).

Generally speaking Europe leads theway inbroadband infrastructure,with theNetherlands having the

highestnumberof fixedbroadbandsubscriptionsat38.1per100habitants.However,when itcomes to

mobilebroadband(theabilitytoaccesstheinternetonportabledevices,suchassmartphones,tabletsand

laptops), nonEU countries lead theway,with 89.9 per 100 of South Koreans having access tomobile

broadband,comparedwiththeworldwideaverageof41.6per100inhabitants.(OECD,2011)

2.2TimespentonsocialmediasitesTheglobal increase in thenumberof internetusers since2007hasbeenaccompaniedbyabehavioural

shifttowardssocialnetworkingasmanyusersprincipalonlineactivity.In2011,comScoreconcludedthat

thepercentageof time spentonlineon socialnetworking sites increasedglobally from6 to19percent

betweenMarch2007 andDecember 2011. Thus since 2011, approximately1 in every 5minutes spent

onlineisbeingspentonsocialnetworkingsites.(comScore,2011,p.4)


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It is important to note, however, that social networking does not yet hold amonopoly on time spent

communicationsonline,withwebbasedEmail,phoneandvideocallsremainingpopular.(Fig.2)Itmaybe

misleadingtoreducedifferentformsofinternetusetodiscreteunitsoftimespentwhen,morethanever,

the internet isprovidingopportunities fordifferenttypesofmediatooverlapanduserstomultitaskand

movesimultaneouslybetweeninformalorsocialusestoreadingthelatestnewsstory,toshoppingonline.

(Cowen,2009,para.6)

Figure2.Proportionofcomputerusebyactivity.WithpermissionfromOfcom(2011).TakenfromTheCommunicationsMarket2010.(Fig1.21)(Ofcom,2011)Retrievedfromhttp://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/cmr

10/UKCM1.21.html.

Furthermore,socialnetworkinghasbecomepartofaEuropeansdailyroutine,withOfcomfindingthat71

percentofrespondentsvisitasocialnetworksiteonadailybasis,including20percentwhovisitasocial

networkingwebsite five timesaday. (Ofcom,2011,p.49)Nor is socialmediause restricted to younger

generations,with71percentofU.K.consumersaged4564statingtheyhaveaccessedasocialnetworking

site,withjustunderhalf saying they visita socialnetworking siteon adailybasis. (Ofcom,2011,p.47)

Moreover,itisintheseolderagecohortsthatthefastestexpansioninsocialnetworkinguserscannowbe

identified,withthe55andoveragesegmentregistering inaworldwidecomScorestudyas the fastest

growingusersofsocialnetworking.(comScore,2011,p.4)Forexample,anOfcomreportpointsoutthatas

manyas86per centof Italiansaged4564 claim tohaveuseda socialnetworking site,which isonly5

percentagepoints

less

than

Italians

aged

25

44.

(Ofcom,

2011,

p.47)

2.3CultureandsocialmediaRegardless of the region or age group analysed, awareness of social networking sites is becoming

undeniablybroad,witharound70%ofEuropeanshavingsetupapageorprofileonasocialnetworking

site. (Ofcom,2011,p.47)There isnotablevariation in thetypesofsocialnetworksusedacross theglobe

(Fig.3),althoughsocalled localsocialnetworkssuchasOrkut,whichhadbeenthemostpopularsocial

network in Brazil until 2011, have consistently been overtaken by the most popular worldwide site,


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Facebook,withonlyVKontakteinRussiaandQzoneinChina(whereFacebookisbanned)(Halliday,2010)

survivingasprincipallocalsocialnetworkingsites.(Consenza,2012)Facebookhasbecomeubiquitous in

many internetusers livestoabreathtakingextent,withnearlyeightoutoften internetusersworldwide

alreadyinpossessionofaFacebookprofile.

Figure3.WorldMapofSocialNetworks,June2012.WithpermissionfromVincenzoConsenza,ownerofVincosblog.TakenfromWorldMapofSocialNetworksJune2012(Consenza,V.2012)Retrievedfromhttp://vincos.it/worldmap

ofsocialnetworks/

AsidefromFacebookhowever,inmanycountries,thenextmostusedtypeofsocialmediahasarelatively

low penetration rate of only around 22 per cent. (Ofcom, 2011, p.48)Moreover, there is considerable

variationbetweenthesesecondmostpopularsocialnetworksfromcountrytocountry.Forexample,whilst

Twitter isthesecondmostpopularsocialnetwork in theUK, it isonlyusedby24percentoftheonline

population. (EuropeanTravelCommission,2012,p.6) InFrance,Twitter isonlyusedby8percentofthe

populationwhilsttheregionalsocialnetworkCopainsdAvant ismorepopularwith13percentofusers.

Similarly,inGermany,Werkenntwen(21percent)andVZNetwerke(20percent)arefavouredoverthe

perhapsmoreuniversallyrecognisedsocialmediasitessuchasTwitter.(Ofcom,2011,p.4849)

2.4HealthcareandsocialmediaHealthcare

professionals

are

not

exempt

from

increased

interest

in

social

media.

By

2011,

more

than

40

per

centofEuropeanphysicianssaidtheyusedsocialmediaprofessionally,yetFacebookstilltoppedthe list,

aboveColoquioandDoctors.net.uk,asthemostpopularsocialnetworkforprofessionaluse. (Manhattan

2011b, p.1) Irrespective of their preferred social network,many healthcare professionals employ social

media to exchange case studies and clinical information in specific confidential forums, search for and

discusscareeropportunitiesandengageindiscussionsaboutthelatesthealthnewsandresearch.Different

sites require different credentials to be provided by prospectivemembers (See Appendix I), yetmost

remain free tojoin, and some (such as BioMedExperts) aim to facilitate professional collaboration on

academic projects, while others such as DoctorsHangout encourage social communication between


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professionalsby listingmembershobbiesontheirprofiles.OthernetworkssuchasBMJGroupsdoc2doc

hasover70,000registeredusersandprovidesamixofclinical,ethicalandnewsrelateddiscussions inan

openforum,whilstalsoemployingothersocialmediasitessuchasFacebookandTwittertohelpamplifyits

communitys activity. In addition, other community sites such as The French Rseau Sant Social (RSS)

provides a weekly service displaying maps provided by the Rseau Sentinelles (an epidemiological

surveillanceorganisationthatcrowdsourcesitsdatafromvolunteerdoctors)whilsttheDGSECHOsystem

relaysurgenthealthalertsissuedbytheDirectiongnralede lasant(DGS)toRSSmembers.Whilstthe

RSSisnotasdevelopedsociallyasothernetworkswhichtendtoprovideforumsandhostcommentbased

discussions, ithasover50,000 fullmembersand reachesmanyotherhealthprofessionals in theFrench

speakingworld.

MostEuropeanpublichealthauthorities,iftheyareemployingsocialmedia,tweetgeneralisedinformation

suchasupdatesaboutprotectivebehavioursorservicesthatareavailable. WhilemanyNHStrustshavea

FacebookorTwitterpage,withthemoresuccessfulonlinetrustsacquiringasmanyas2,058Facebooklikes

or5,182Twitter followers, there is regionalvariation inuserengagement. More successappears tobe

attainedby trustswhich takean informal tonewhenaddressinguserssuchasNHSDirectwho regularly

begins

the

day

with

Good

morning

Facebookers.

However,

Mark

Brown,

editor

of

the

U.K.

mental

health

magazineOne inFour,arguesthat it isnecessaryforhealthauthoritysocialnetworkingtodomorethan

simplyinjectinformationintoasocialmediaspace.(Brown,2012,para.3)Therehavebeenexamplesof

organisationsdoingmorethanjustpostingstaticinformation,withNHSDirectusingTwittertoengagewith

users,especiallyyoungerones,byrespondingtotweetedquestionsorcomplaintsandsignpostingusersto

appropriate blogs, podcasts and guides of patients living with the same condition.

(Gomm cited by

Whitelaw,2011,para.9)Indeed,thereisgrowingevidencethatinformationisbestcommunicatedtosocial

mediauserswhenthedisseminatingpartyprovidessupportandinformationthroughmultipleapplications

andplatformsbylinkingmultipleresourcestogether.Thisissuitedtobehaviouralshiftstowardsemploying

more than one internetbased platform at a time, as users become savvy in locating, comparing and

filteringinformationfromavarietyofsourcesandmediaatonce.


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3. Reimagininghumancommunication3.1.Asurvivaltechnique

AccordingtoMaslowshierarchyofneeds,whichdefinesmotivationsforhumanbehaviour,anindividuals

physiological needs are prepotent to all other needs ("Maslow", 2012, para.7) and these physiological

needscanbethreatenedduringatimeofcrisis,suchasanoutbreakofpandemicflu,forexample.Whenin

jeopardy,peopleemployintuitivesurvivaltechniquestoprotecttheirphysiologicalrequirements,inorder

to ensure the secondmost important component inMaslowspyramid: safety.Duringa crisis, safety is

securedwhentherightinformationisavailable.Oftennoonepersonisinpossessionofthefullfactsbutby

gatheringandlisteningtoavarietyofsources,itispossibletodevelopmorerefinedintelligenceinacrisis

situation.Forexample,thenonprofittechcompanyUshahidiInc.establishedawebsitethatwasdesigned

to crowdsource information about events during the postelection unrest in Kenya betweenDecember

2007and January2008.Thiswebsitewassetupasameanstocollectandvalidatewrittenandpictorial

accountsofviolence in response toagovernmentbanon livemedia,whichhadcreatedan information

vacuum.(Ushahidi,2012)Becausethisnewinformationcamefrommainlyunknownorunseensources,

theneedtocollectasmuchdataaspossibleforverificationwascrucial. Ushahidiwentthroughaprocess

offiltering

the

reports

it

received

by

cross

referencing

them.

Then

Executive

Director

of

Ushahidi,

Ory

Okolloh,explainsInformation inacrisis isapatchworkofsources.Youcanonlyhope tobuildupa full

picturebyhavingasmanysourcesaspossible.(Okolloh,2009,p.65)Together,individualscanaddtoand

substantiatesocialmedia informationsources,todevelopa fullersenseofthesituation.Rutledge(2011)

claims that humans are social beings and thatMaslows theory in fact omits two important aspects of

humanlife,connectionandcollaboration;keybehaviourspeopleusetosurviveandprogress:

Humansaresocialanimalsforgoodreason. Withoutcollaboration,thereisnosurvival. Itwasnot

possibletodefeataWoolleyMammoth,buildasecurestructure,orcareforchildrenwhilehunting

withoutateameffort. Itsmoretruenowthanthen.Ourrelianceoneachothergrowsassocieties

becamemore complex, interconnected,and specialized. Connection is aprerequisitefor survival,

physicallyand

emotionally.

(Rutledge,

para.7)

Socialmedia isthenewestvehiclewehavetocommunicateandcollaborate inthisway,throughboth its

enormouspopularityandnaturalpropensitytoconnectindividuals.Moreover,thesenewonlineplatforms

haveopenedthefloodgatestodifferent interpretationsofageoldhumanbehaviours.(Rutledge,2011,

para.17)Peoplewhousesocialmedia,eitherbydesignordefault,arewillingtocontributeinformationthat

buildsonsharedorcollectiveknowledge.Ultimately,inatimeofcrisis,safetyismorelikelytobeobtained

when information canbe located frommultiple sources,and contributionspostedand sharedon social

mediaplatformsfromavarietyofuserscanworktothebenefitofsharedsurvival.

3.2Thephenomenonofsharing

Thephenomenonofsharing isakeyaspectofsocialmediaandonlinenetworks.Usersoftendisseminate

informationorhelpotherusers theyhavenever seenbefore foranymonetaryexchange.Thiswas first

evident in supportforumswhereuserscould,forexample,postaproblemaboutacomputertheyhave

bought,orwherepatientscandiscusstheirillnesseswithothersufferers.Sproull,Conley,and

Moon(2005)statethat:oneofthemoststrikingsocialaspectsoftheInternetisthateveryday,hundreds

of thousands of people voluntarily help one another on the netwith no expectation of direct reward.

Moreover, the helpers and those they help usually have never met face to face. Yet the help is


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consequential and people are enormously grateful for it. (2005, p.139) Users can contribute in many

differentways,includinggivingexpertadvice,emotionalsupport,volunteeringduringacrisis,sharingfiles,

mentoring, reviewing items, sharing photos. (2005, p.140) Similarly, peertopeer file sharing sites are

another exampleofwhere themedium seems to encourage a culturewhereusers host anddownload

illegalmusic and film filesbetween eachother for no financial benefit andmaintain this practice even

thoughitisillegal.Therehavebeenstudiesthatshowthatduringapublicemergency,likethe7/7bombsin

Londonin2005,physicalproximitywasenoughforcompletestrangerstohelpothersinneedanddisplay

altruisticbehaviours.(Drury,Cocking&Reicher,2009)Thisformofaltruismisperhapseasytounderstand

becauseofthephysical immediacyofthesituation,however,whydousersfeelcompelledtohelpothers

online?Whatbehavioursdoesdigitalproximityencourage?

One possible explanation is that socialmedia is a visualmediumwhere content such asmessages and

photoscanbesharedandviewedeasily,andthatactionsarerecordedpermanently forallusers tosee.

Sproull,Conley,andMoonsuggestThevisibilityofbehavioronthenet insuresthateveryonewhodoes

readadiscussiongroupwillseeexamplesofprosocialbehavior(i.e.helpfulmessages).Moreover,theywill

also see that someof thesemessages areexplicitly recognized ashelpful,eitherby the recipientorby

another

reader.

(2005,

p.146)

Furthermore,

in

the

popular

social

networks,

like

Twitter

and

Facebook,

userscannowdisplayseeminglyhelpfulbehaviourswithgreatease.Forexample,onTwitterausercould

retweetamessagetheyhaveseenpostedbyonesource,whichtheythinkwillbeusefulorofinterestto

their own network of followers. Similarly, users can react to information by reposting messages on

FacebookorclickingLiketoapost,addingfurtherendorsementtooriginalmessageswrittenbyusers.

This formof reinforcement isveryeasy to implement,andjustoneclick (to retweetor like)canalerta

wholehostofnewuserstoan importantpieceof information. Sharing isnotonlyagenerousact; it isa

trustingone, for itsupposes thatgoodwillcome fromreachingagreaternumberofpeople,which isan

undeniably altruistic belief.However,whilst the fundamental aim of socialmedia is to provide a place

whereusersshare,thisenvironmentcreatesapermanentrecordoftheusersactivityandisvisibletothe

whole network. The act of sharing can be considered as being altruistic but the fact that this helpful

behaviouris

so

clearly

displayed

means

that

the

act

may

not

be

simply

rewarded

privately;

rather,

it

is

convertedintosocialrecognitionorsocialcapitalthatreinforcestheidentityandstatusofaparticularuser.

(Sproull,ConleyandMoon,2005,p.146)Inevitably,therearenumerousreasonswhypeopleinteractwithin

socialnetworks.Thealtruisticbehaviourmentionedabovecouldbeinterpretedasstemmingfromaself

interestassociatedwithbeingrecognisedashelpful,orfeelingmoreinfluentialinacrisis.Penner,Dovidio,

Piliavin and Schroeder suggest that one of the reasonswhy people aremotivated to help is based on

arousal and affect,which share a guiding principlewith learning theory that people aremotivated to

behave in ways that help them attain some goalimproving the persons own situation (egoistic

motivation) or, in some cases, improving the welfare of another person (altruistic motivation). (2004,

p.368) Indeed,alongsidedigitalaltruism, ithasbeensuggestedthattheabilitytoselfbroadcastonsocial

networks can feed digital narcissism. (Carpenter, 2012) During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Morozov

(2009) criticised the quality andmotivations behind certain tweets, claiming that themediumwas

feeding narcissistic and selfish reasons to participate, which inevitably devalued the quality of the

contentbeingpostedToomanyTwitterconversationsaboutswinefluseemtobemotivatedbydesires

tofitin,dowhatone'sfriendsdo(i.e.tweetaboutit)orsimplygainmorepopularity.Insituationslikethis,

thereissomepathologicalaboutpeoplewantingtopostyetanotherstatusupdatecontainingthecoveted

mostsearchedwordsonlyforthesakeofgainingmorepeopletofollowthem.(2009,para.3) Sharing

information isakeypartofsocialmedia,but it isunclearwhatmotivateseach individualusertoshare.It

couldbegenuineconcern for their fellowusers,but itcouldalsobemotivatedbyaneedto fit inorbe

appreciated. Whilstitisdifficulttoseparateeachusersintentionsortoknowwhetheritisanaltruisticact


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ornot, the fact is themediumappears tocompelusers to shareand thisdynamiccouldbeparticularly

importantforspreadingusefulinformationandupdatesduringapublicemergency.

3.3Newsandsocialmedia

Therehasbeenagrowingtrend towardssocialmediaspreading the latestnewsstoriesand information

andeven

being

the

first

place

where

users

find

out

about

breaking

stories.

51

per

cent

of

18

24

year

olds

withasocialnetworkingprofileagreedwiththestatementthattheyoftenfindoutaboutbreakingnews

storiesviasocialnetworkingsites.43percentofUKwomenagreedwiththisstatement,whilst27percent

ofmenagreed.(Ofcom,2011,p.46)Despitetheoverridingpopularityofprofilebasedsocialnetworkssuch

asFacebook,microbloggingsitessuchasTwitter(reachesone inten internetusersworldwide)andSina

Weibo (337musers inChina)uniquelyencourageusersto interactwithoutbeing limitedto interpersonal

relations among friends. This form of concise, informal, rapid and open communication has led to

microblogging sites tobecome forawheremembersdiscussmajorworldeventsand issues in real time.

(comScore,2011,p.10)According toastudybytheOxford Internet Institute,theaverageU.K.usernow

considerstheinternetastheirmostimportantsourceforinformation.(2011,p.43)Notably,thestudyalso

foundthat

confidence

in

the

reliability

of

information

found

on

the

internet

has

also

increased,

as

users

tendtotrustthe internetasmuchasotherformsofmedia.(2011,p.46)Thismaybeexplainedbyusers

growing confidence in theirability to sift throughand validate informationon the internet. Information

fromothermediasourcescannotbevalidatedsoimmediatelyforcomparison,asecondnewspapermust

bebought,oradifferentradioorTVprogrammemustbewaitedfor,yetwithsocialmedianewsoropinion

canbecrossreferencedrapidlybydrawingupon informationpostedby fellowusers.Theconceptofthe

citizenjournalist has grown considerably in recent years and with social media tools, events can be

reportedmuchquickerthattraditionalmediaoutlets. Usersofsocialmediaareequippedwiththetoolsto

report and publish events as they happen and broadcast to theworld. For example, thewhen theUS

AirwaysFlight1549madeanemergency landingontheHudsonRiver inNewYorkon15th

January2009,

local resident JimHanrahan reported theeventonTwitter twominutesafter theplanehad landedand

photoswere

on

Twitter

five

minutes

after

the

event.

(Landau,

2011,

p.20

21)

In

addition,

the

response

on

TwittertotheearthquakewhichhitJapanon11th

March2011,wasalmostinstantaneous.Theearthquake

was9.0inmagnitudeandhappenedat05:46:23(UTC)neartheeastcoastofHonshu,whichis373mnorth

eastofTokyo.The first tweetabout theearthquakeposted inTokyohappened at05:48:54UTC1.25

minutesaftertheevent:

20110311T05:48:54HugeearthquakeinTKweareaffected!

20110311T05:49:01BIGEARTHQUAKE!!!

20110311T05:50:00MassivequakeinTokyo(Doan,HoVo&Collier,2011,p.5)

Socialmediaalsoseemstohavechangedattitudestowardsthewaynewsisconsumedduringcrises,where

onceinformation

was

filtered

through

the

press;

it

is

now

partially

developed

and

verified

by

online

users.

Eysenbachclaimsthatthisisaprocesscalledapomediation,whichis:

an information seeking strategywherepeople rely less on traditional experts and authorities as

gatekeepers,but insteadreceiveguidancefromagentswhichstandbytoguideaconsumerto

high quality information and serviceswithout being aprerequisite to obtain that information or

service inthefirstplace,andwith limited individualpower toalterorselect the informationbeing

brokered (Eysenbach,2008,p.22)


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13

The ability to contribute towards the formulation of knowledge is a key component of social media,

particularly in relationtobreakingnewsoremergingstories.Thisapproachpresentsadecentralisedand

democraticwayofestablishingknowledgeaboutasituationandthiscollaborationseemstobemotivated

bywhatWenger (2006) claims are communities of practice, where groups of peoplewho share a

concernorpassionforsomethingtheydoandlearnhowtodoitbetterastheyinteractregularly.(Citedin

Dufty,2012,p.42) Itseemsthatpeoplearepartlymotivatedtousesocialmediaasasurvivaltechnique,

because it is able to alert a user to dangeror relevant informationmuch earlier than traditional news

outlets.Peoplewanttoknowwhattherisk isandsologontosocialmediasitestoinformthemselves,as

well as contribute theirown knowledge,andbydoing so they gain reassurancepersonally,and for the

people they know. It could be suggested that by enabling the user to add comments about their

experiences or opinions, that this gives them a greater stake and sense of ownership of a situation.

Equipped with this additional responsibility and the tools to communicate, users feel compelled to

contributeinformationthatcouldbenefittheirowncircumstances,aswellasothers.


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4. Previoususesofonlinecommunicationduringcrises4.1Onlinecollaboration:SARS,2003

Adecadeago,onlinecommunitieswere stillgenerallydedicated toparticular interestgroupsor forums

whereuserswereabletoshareanddiscussinformationaboutatopicwithlikemindedindividuals.During

theoutbreakofSevereAcuteRespiratorySyndrome (SARS) in2002,themostpopularsocialnetworksof

todaywereyettobeestablished.TheSARScrisisended inJuly2003andwithinthenextmonththefirst

majorgeneralsocialnetworkingsite,MySpace,wasfounded.(Myspace,2012,para.2)

DuringtheoutbreakofSARSin20022003,itwaswidelyperceivedthattherewasanunnecessarydelayin

communicatinginformationaboutthediseasetotheworldhealthauthorities. Theoutbreakofthevirusis

said tohaveoriginated inChina, inNovember2002,ata farm in theFoshanCounty, (SARSoutbreak,

2012,para.1)with theepidemicreaching itspeak inFebruary2003.Thenumberoftext (SMS)messages

sent intheGuangdongprovidencebetweenthe810th

Februarywasthree timesthenumbersent in the

sametimeperiodinthepreviousyear.(Gordon,2007,p.310)Thisheightenedactivityindicatedthatmobile

phone users felt compelled to communicate about something that they were either interested in or

concerned

about.

Until

this

point

in

time,

local

authorities

had

not

officially

announced

any

form

of

outbreak,butonthe10th

FebruarytheChinesegovernmentnotifiedtheWorldHealthOrganisation(WHO)

oftheepidemic,initiallyreportingthattherehadbeen305casesandfivedeaths.Cyranoski(2003,para.4)

reported that Initially,Chineseofficials said that theepidemichad infectedabout300people andhad

peteredoutinFebruary.But...theyadmittedthatbytheendofFebruaryithadinfectedatleast806people,

causing 34 deaths. Gordon writes about the confusion surrounding the initial communication of

informationaboutthevirus:

ItseemsprobablethatdocumentationbytheChinesegovernmentconcerningSARSafter20April

2003 isgenerallyaccurateandbeforethatdatethe information isquestionable. Despitethehigh

useofmobilephonesand internetamongst theChinesepopulation, thegovernmentwasatfirst

successfulin

concealing

and

understating

news

of

SARS

to

the

outside

world

and

many

of

their

own

citizens.However,thepopulationofChinamakesupaboutonethirdoftheglobalpopulation.How

didinformationaboutSARSstayoutsidetheinternationalpublicsphereforsolong?(2007,p.309)

Inaddition, therewere reports thatdespiteChina reporting theoutbreak to theWHO,and theChinese

mediaacknowledginganatypicalpneumoniaonthe9th

February,thatanycontentrelatedtoSARSwas

removedonFebruary14thand thevirus seemed toneverhaveexisted. (Gordon,2007,p.309)Despite

attemptstoplaydownthe threat,however, informationabout theoutbreakwaspickeduponProMED

mailwhichisaspecialistlistservforexpertsinterested in infectiousdiseasesaroundtheworldandemails

itsmemberson adailybasiswithmessages that containnewdataonoutbreaksordiseases, someof

whicharereportedfirsthandandsomeofwhicharereportedfromothersources.(Madoff,2004,p.227)

Thisis

alow

cost

and

collaborative

way

of

collecting

and

corroborating

information

relating

to

infectious

diseasesfromaroundtheworld.OnFebruary10th

2003,anUSepidemiologistpostedthefollowing:

This morning I received this email and then searched your archives and found nothing that

pertainedtoit.Doesanyoneknowanythingaboutthisproblem?Haveyouheardofanepidemicin

Guangzhou?Anacquaintanceofminefromateacherschatroomlivesthereandreportsthatthe

hospitalstherehavebeenclosedandpeoplearedying.

(PostedbyStephenO.Cunnion,M.D.,onProMEDmail,10February2003) (Madoff,2004,p.227)


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TheacquaintanceofStephenO.CunnionM.D.,wasCatherineStrommen,ateacher fromCalifornia,who

had received reportsofaviraloutbreakonTeachers.net; the internationalonline community forum for

teachers.OnFebruary9th

2003,StronmenreadonepostfromBen,auserfromChinawhodescribedan

illnessthatbegan likeacold,butkilledpeople indays. Severalpeopleheknewhaddied,andhospital

doorswere locked. (Drexler,2008,p.1) Strommen thenemailedher contactCunnion to enquire ifhe

knew anything about this virus. Cunnion then contacted ProMEDmail who appealed to the listserv

subscriberswiththemessage:PNEUMONIACHINA(GUANGDONG): Requestfor Information.(Drexler,

2008, p.1) From this initial report,members of the listserv then began crossreferencing evidence and

accountsrelatingtothisemergingvirusasameansoftrackingitsthreatandprevalence.Thiscollaboration

continued throughout the SARS outbreak of 2003, with the creation of larger online epidemiology

networks,whichwerefedbyupdatesfromProMEDmail,amongstvariousothersources.WhilstProMED

mail is a network of specialists, rather than a general social network, this example demonstrates how

peoplewithsharedinterests(teachers,epidemiologists)arewillingtocontributeinformationthatmightbe

outsidetheirtypicalprofessionalremit,butcanthenbeusedforpublicgood.Professionalscloselyinvolved

with the general public, like teachers for example, can be particularly valuable communicators of

information.Assuggestedbythisexample,ifprofessionalsareequippedwiththetoolstodisseminatetheir

experiences,knowledge,

or

information

sources,

then

they

are

likely

to

report

their

observations

within

the

networkstheyarepartof,potentiallyproducingarippleeffect,allowingpiecesofimportantinformationto

bedetectedandaddedtoadevelopingbodyofknowledge.Theanecdotalaccountfromteachers.netmay

have seemed tomanyan insignificantpostbut itwasacrucialpieceof information thatunearthed the

eventstakingplace inChina.Althoughthis informationwaspickeduponspecialistnetworks in2003,the

toolsandplatformsnow exist to share this typeof informationmore freely,withawideraudience,on

socialmediasitessuchasFacebookandTwitter.

The messages that were communicated via text message in China could now be sent through social

networks tomultiple recipientsmoreeasily. In2003, thedigital toolsof textmessage,emailandonline

communitieskeptvitalinformationaliveinacountrythatplacedrestrictionsonitsflow. HadtheChinese

citizensnot

had

these

tools,

the

world

might

have

received

this

information

much

later

on.

This

early

alertingoftheproblemallowedothercountriessuchasCanadatoprepareforthespreadofthevirus,as

Madoffclaims:InToronto,medicalstaffwhowereregularreadersofProMEDmailsreports learnedof

theexistenceofthisdeadlyandcontagious illness.Theywerethusabletorespondappropriatelyandto

isolatepatientswhenthediseasefirstappearedthere.(2004,p.227)

ItisdebatablewhetherthistypeofcommunicationchaincouldinitiateinChinaoncemore.Gordon(2007,

p.311312)suggeststhattheChinesegovernmentsimplementationoftheGoldenShieldpolicycouldseea

limit on the freeflow of information. The policy restrictsmessages on the internet and those sent via

personal communicationdevices,and therearenowover2800 facilitiesacrossChina thatmonitor SMS

messages.Ifthetopicisconsideredantisocialinanyway,themessageisnottransmitted.(Gordon,2007,

p.312)TheChinesegovernmentallegedlyaimedtorestrict informationaboutthevirustopreventpanic;

however, itscitizenswereworriedandtooktoonlinecommunitiesandtextmessagestodiscussgrowing

concernsabouttheemergingvirus.Preventingtheflowofthisinformationcouldhaveputlivesatriskand

induced panic and uncertainty amongst the population.Whilst some governmentsmaywish to control

information exchange, transparent communication about a viral outbreak is important to ensure other

citizenscanemployprotectivebehavioursoratleastplaninadvance.

Incomparison,othernationscommunicatedmoreopenlyabouttheoutbreak.Theneedforuptodateand

timelyadviceon thedevelopingoutbreak iscrucialand the internetprovideda space topostemerging


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D2.5Newsocialmedia


16

information, aswell as advice to healthcare professionals and the public.During the SARS outbreak, a

major source of information was the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, which

becameaprimarytoolforcommunicationduringSARS. In2002,therewere3.6millionvisitstothetravel

sectionoftheCDCswebsiteandbetweenJanuaryandJuly2003thereweremorethan4millionvisitsto

the samepartof thewebsite,with1millionof these visits fromusers accessing SARSrelated content.

Interestingly,whilstbeinga site forUScitizens,Arguin,Navin, Steele,Weld,andKozarsky (2004,p.378)

foundthatonethirdoftheoverallvisitsweremadefromAsiawheretheoutbreakfirstdeveloped.Whilst

resources like theseare important toeducatingandengaging thepublicduringa crisis, theircontent is

relativelystaticandnotespecially interactive.Theseareweb informationpages,whichareverymuchstill

intheveinofWeb1.0.SocialmediaorWeb2.0actsinadifferentwaybecauseitrepresentsaninteractive

webuserexperience,whereusersactivelysharelinks(toWeb1.0)sitesbutalsotoothersites,discussions,

blogswhichtheycancontributeto.Thefollowingsectionwilllookathowthisprocessofcontributionand

collaboration increasedduringthe2009pandemictospreadinformationthroughsocialnetworks.

4.2Socialmediacommunicationduringrecentpublicemergencies

4.2.1Howthepubliccommunicated

The 2009 H1N1 pandemic saw an increase in the general public openly communicating about the flu

outbreak.Whilst still in their relative infancy, social networking siteswere awashwith information and

messagespertainingtothe2009flupandemic.Nielsenwireclaimthatbysomeaccountstherewere10,000

tweetsthatmentionedswinefluinthespaceofanhour.(NMIncite,2009,para.4)Twitteralsoreported

thatmessagesaboutswineflufeaturedtwiceintheirtop10newstrendsof2009(Chowdhury,2009)andin

2011 (evenwhen therewas not a global pandemic) itwas themost highest trending news subject on

Twitter,beatingtrendingtopicssuchastheArabspring,theearthquakeandtsunamiinJapan,thecivilwar

inLibyaandtheweddingofPriceWilliamandKateMiddleton.(Chowdhury,2011)Messagessharedduring

publichealth

crises,

or

indeed

at

any

time,

can

contain

information

that

can

be

both

informative

but

also

ephemeral. Hereareafewexamples,whichshowthevarietyofdifferenttypesofTweetssharedduring

the2009H1N1pandemic:

Swineflusymptoms:Checklisttoseeifyoumaybeinfected:http://bit.ly/9L4Wx Thisswineflustuffiskindacreepingmeout. Monitoring the travel/swineflu scenario/issues closely. Biden didnt do the travel industry any

favorsyesterday!

Thinks its lame that they had to come upwith a politically correct namefor swineflu, tocompensatefortheignoranceofthemasses.

Newflustrainhavingsignificantindirectadverseimpactsonourswineindustryatatimewhenourproducersabsolutelydonotneedit!(NMIncite,2009,para.5)

Additionally,attheheightoftheflupandemic,thereweremorethan500Facebookgroupsdedicatedto

H1N1discussionandthethree largestofthesegroupsamountedtoover10,000members.Groupswere

free to join and gave updates about the developing situation, allowing users to post comments and

questions,whichwereoftenansweredbyotherusers.(NMIncite,2009,para.3)

Directing the general public towards verified information always poses a challenge for public health

organisations during crises, when involved in promoting protective behaviours. Arguably, social media

allows the general public to report independently and without accountability. However, this type of

democratisedcommunicationisalsoanopportunitytoengagewith,andunderstandpublicsentimentand


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17

concerns, in order to prepare a timely response.Davies claims that There have been plentyofjoking

referencestoswineflu,too,butasignificantportionofthediscussionseemstocenteraroundalegitimate

desiretoconnectwithothersandtalkaboutrealissues.(NMIncite,2009)

Fromthegraphbelow,the interestinswinefluhadrisendramaticallyon1stMay2009andthiscoincided

withthefirstreportsinHongKongoftheH1N1virus.(NMIncite,2009,para.4)Blogsaboutswineflu(H1N1

virus)were

far

more

frequent

than

those

about

other

public

health

scares

in

the

US

(Peanut

Butter

and

Salmonellascare)orcommentsaboutSusanBoyle,theXFactorsinger,whowasaglobalsensationatthe

time.

Figure4.BuzzvolumeasaPercentofTotalEnglishLanguageBlogDiscussion.WithpermissionfromNMIncite.Takenfrom'SwineFluasSocialMediaEpidemic;CDCTweetsCalmly'(NMIncite,2009).Retrievedfrom

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/swinefluassocialmediaepidemiccdctweetscalmly/

Furthermore,thereareexamplessuchastheFluwiki(Fluwiki,2012),whichallowedavarietyofusersto

addtoandedittoanexistingbodyof informationonthescienceofthevirus,aswellasprovidingtipson

how to protect yourself against it. Knowledge and resourceswere built up by usergenerated content,

which

was

freely

donated.

This

is

an

example

of

a

decentralised

process

of

compiling

information,

by

a

groupofindividualswhohaveprobablynevermet,yetpossessasharedconcernaboutaperceivedconcern

aboutthescarcityofinformationavailabletothegeneralpublic.

4.2.2HowgovernmentsandhealthauthoritiescommunicatedDespitethislevelgeneralofactivity,researchhasfoundthatonlyfiveoftheEUmemberstatesusedsocial

mediaasatooltoreachthegeneralpublicduringthepandemic,withthemajoritypreferringtraditional

methodsofcommunication,usingpressreleasesandpressconferencestospreadmessages.(Thinus,2010,


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18

p.3) WaysinwhichgovernmentagenciesusedsocialmediatoreachouttoatriskcitizensduringtheH1N1

2009pandemic includedtweetsmadebytheAlexandria,Virginiahealthdepartmentaboutwherevaccine

supplieswerelocated,leadingtopeopleflockingtovaccinationsites.Merchant,ElmerandLurieclaimthat:

Engaging with and using emerging social media may well place the emergencymanagement

community, includingmedicalandpublichealthprofessionals, inabetterposition to respond to

disasters.The

effectiveness

of

our

public

health

emergency

system

relies

on

routine

attention

to

preparedness, agility in responding to daily stresses and catastrophes, and the resilience that

promotesrapidrecovery.Socialmediacanenhanceeachofthesecomponentefforts.(2010,p.290)

TheCentersofDiseasePreventionandControl(CDC)setupadedicatedTwitteraccount@CDCemergency

whichprovidedinformationaboutH1N1,andtoincreaseinthenation'sabilitytoprepareforandrespond

toanimminentpublichealthemergency(Fig.5).

Figure5. ExamplesoftweetspostedbytheCDCTwitteraccount(@CDCEmergency)duringthe2009H1N1outbreak.(OBrien,2009)

TheCDC

also

posted

arange

of

videos

on

their

own

website

as

well

as

on

YouTube

during

the

2009

H1N1

outbreak. One video featured Dr. Joe Bresee, from the CDC's Influenza Division, who explained the

symptomsofswinefluandwarningsignsto lookforthat indicatetheneedforurgentmedicalattention.

(CDC,2009)Thisvideoreceivedmorethan1.9mmoreviewsthanthesamevideopostedontheofficialCDC

website,demonstratingthatuserswillnotalwaysknowtogototheofficialsitestofindinformationona

topical issue like pandemic flu and the importance of organisations disseminating their content and

updates on numerous platforms. In addition, thereweremany antivaccine videos and humourbased

videospostedby individualusersthatalsoreceivedahighnumberofviewswhichperhapsdemonstrates

how competitive and challenging socialmedia spaces can be for crisis communicators. The CDC also


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19

targeted independentand influentialbloggerstohelpthemspread important informationandcreated

widgets and RSS feeds displaying the latest information on the virus, for users to post on their own

websites. (iHealthBeat, 2009) Other organisations like the Red Cross also set up Twitter accounts and

disseminatedandsharedinformation(fig.6).

Figure6. ExamplesoftweetspostedbytheAmericanRedCross(@RedCross)duringthe2009H1N1outbreak.(OBrien,2009)

Inadditiontothe2009H1N1outbreak,otheremergencyserviceshaveusedsocialmediatoprovidereal

timeinformation

during

atime

of

public

emergency.

For

example,

during

the

2011

floods

in

Queensland,

Australia,theQueenslandPoliceServicesetupaFacebookpagetogivethepublicregularupdatesandto

engage with users about the developing situation. Throughout the three days of flash flooding in

ToowoombaandtheLockyerValley,andduringtheperiodofrisingfloodwaters inIpswichandBrisbane

QPS,2011,thePoliceSevicesFacebookprofilepagereceivedan increase from20,000to160,000 likes,

thatactedassubscriptions,demonstratingthepeoplesdesiretoreceiveupdatesonanuncertainsituation.

(Taylor,Wells,Howell&Raphael,2012,p.20)Furthermore,othergovernmentagencies,councilsandNGOs

setupFacebookpagesduringthesedisastersinanattemptfortheauthoritiesandthepublictoexchange

critical information, post relevant photos (road closures, flooding) and to appeal for volunteers.

Furthermore,inresponsetoCycloneYasiwhichwasformingnearFijiatthetime,alocalteachersetupa

dedicatedFacebookpagetoprovide informationandsupportandtoallowcitizenstopostupdates inan

attemptto

enable

people

to

help

themselves. (Taylor,

Wells,

Howell

&

Raphael,

2012,

p.22)

Similarly,

ProjectEPIC in theUShasbeenused toencourageusers tosubmitupdatesusing specifiedhashtagson

Twitter (such as #closed, #shelter, #damage)

. This simply coded information may then be easily

computatedandrapidlymappedontoaGooglemap,tohelppeopleunderstandwhereissafetogo.Duringmorerecentcrises,suchastheearthquakeandtsunamithathitJapaninMarch2011,wheninfrastructures

weredevastatedandmanymodesofcommunicationrendereduseless,theuseofTwitterandothersocial

networkswas commonamongdoctors,who communicated to chronically illpatientsaboutwhere they

couldobtainessentialmedicines.TwocardiologistsatKeioUniversity involvedYuichiTamuraandKeiichi


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FukudawroteinalettertoLancetthatThesetweetsimmediatelyspreadthroughpatientsnetworks,and

consequentlymostcouldattendtotheiressentialtreatments.(Tamura&Fukuda,2011)

Socialmediahasbeenusedinavarietyofwaysbyorganisationsthataimtoprotectpublichealthduringan

emergency.However,mostorganisationshavenotembracedsocialmediaasakeycommunications tool

duringacrisis,andremainunsureofhowtoharnessittoachievetheirstrategicaims.Withtheburgeoning

useofsocialmedia,however,organisationscannotignorethefactthatmanyusersaresearchingfornews

or information on these channels. There is great potential for organisations to share, interact and

collaboratewiththepublic,althoughtheuseofsocialmedia is inconsistentlyappliedacrossnationaland

internationalorganisations.Thefollowingsectionwill lookatpotentialproblemscausedbythe lackofan

assertive socialmedia presence by organisations, andwill analyse theways inwhich organisations can

assessandutilisedatapostedonsocialmediasitestotheiradvantage.


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5. Casestudiesofsocialmedia5.1HowdoesTwitterdealwithmisinformation?

One concern about socialmedia is that it has the potential to generate and perpetuate rumour. For

example,Morozovargues that searching for aparticular term suchas#swinefluonTwitter isnota

reliableway toaccess trustworthy informationbecause itdoesnotallow for context.Morozov lists

severaltweetswhichcouldbeperceivedasinducingpanic:

I'mconcernedabouttheswinefluoutbreakinusandmexicocoulditbegermwarfare? InthepandemicSpanishFluof191819,myGrandfathersaidbodieswerepiledlikewoodin

ourlocaltown....SWINEFLU=DANGER

SIMPLECURE FOR THENEW BHS (BIRD/HUMAN/SWINE FLU)AS REPORTEDON TV LASTNIGHTISTHEDRUGTAMIFLU....ALREADYAPRESCRIPTIONONTHEMARKET

Becareful...SwineFluisnotonlyinMexiconow.8casesintheStates.Pig=Don'teat(Morozov,2009,para.6)

However,whilstonanopenplatformsuchasTwitter,usersarefreetopostanymessage,andothersare

freetosearchandreadthem,thevastcollaborativenetworksthatcomprisesocialmediaoftenquestion

andcorrectrumoursposted. Usersarenot likelytojustreadonepostaboutatrendingsubjectbutwill

negotiatethroughand filternumeroussources. Cowen,suggeststhatthemassmigrationof intellectual

activity from print to theWeb has brought one important development: We have begun payingmore

attention to information. (2009,para.4)Whilst there ismore informationout thereon theweb,many

usersnaturallyverifyinformationandquestionwhereitisfrom.Whilstthecitizenjournalistcanreporton

eventsaheadofreportsbyothermediaoutletsororganisations,usersarestillwaryofsourcesand,even

on Twitter, hold official sources in high esteem, often seeking verification before believing alarmist

messages.

Intelligence isbuilton the comparison and corroborationof various sources.Hilton and Smith suggest

that Incountriesaffectedbyoutbreaks research intopeopleswillingness tocomplywithpublichealth

recommendationssuggestedthatthis largelydependeduponpeoplesunderstandingsandassessmentof

theperceivedriskofcontractingthe infectionand itsseverity.(Hilton&Smith,2010,p.2) This istosay

that theeffectivenessof a communications response topublic concern reliesupon theabilityofhealth

agencies to engage the public in a factual discourse about the extent of an emergency, through all

communication channels, including social media. By being a proactive communicator on social media,

healthauthoritiesandhealthcareprofessionalscanestablishthemselvesasareassuringvoiceof reason,

satisfyingtheinformationneedsofthepublic,andhelpingittocomprehendthescaleoftheriskaswellas

beingonhand todiscreditanyerroneous information thatappears. Whilst tapping intoand assessing

public sentiment can be useful to an organisation when structuring crisis response, it is equally

important tobeaproactive force inconfronting rumoursandpublishingauthoritative information

whichthepubliccantrust.

To illustrate how rumours start and spread, Procter,Vis andVoss (2011) illustrate howoneusers

tweetwasretweetedseveraltimesduringtheBirmingham riotsinEngland,August2011,leadingtoa

rapid spread of misinformation. In the space of 30 minutes the rumour of riots in a Birmingham

childrens hospital gainedmomentum through the simple process of people retweeting adramatic


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22

tweet that containedno reference to back up the claim. The circleon the leftof Figure 7 (below)

showsthe networkwheretherumourbegan.Theuser@jazz_kaur,whohad113followersstartedthe

rumour(bluecircle)andthistweetwasthenpickedupbyretweetedby@HarrysLips(blackcircle),who

had amuch larger following of 5,320. Thismessage then continued to reachmore andmore people

throughassociatednetworks,withsomeusersemphasisingitssignificancebyretweetingit.

Figure7.Initialtweetfromuser@jazz_kaur,suspectedtobeerroneousinformation. WithpermissionfromGuardianNews&MediaLtd.ScreenshottakenfromHowriotrumoursspreadonTwitter:Riotersattackachildren's

hospitalinBirmingham,ProcterR.,Vis,F.&Voss,A.(2011).Retrievedfrom

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2011/dec/07/london riotstwitter

Approximately45minutesaftertheoriginaltweet,thismisinformationwasretweetedandelaborated

on insubsequent tweets (seeFig8.below).Thegreencirclesshowthenumberofusers reinforcing

therumourthroughretweetsorsimilarmessages,andtheredcirclesaretheuserswhoarerefuting

therumour.


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D2.5Newsocialmedia


23

Figure8.How@jazz_kaurstweetwaspickedup,elaboratedonandanamplified byotherusers.WithpermissionfromGuardianNews&MediaLtd.ScreenshottakenfromHowriotrumoursspreadonTwitter:Rioters

attackachildren'shospitalinBirmingham,ProcterR.,Vis,F.&Voss,A.(2011).Retrievedfrom


In the space of an hourmore information came to light and, there emerged a growing number of

voiceschallengingtheoriginalrumour(Fig.9andFig.10).

Figure9.ExampleoftheTwittercommunitychallenging arumourbycrossverifying withofflinesources. WithpermissionfromGuardianNews&MediaLtd.ScreenshottakenfromHowriotrumoursspreadonTwitter:Rioters

attackachildren'shospitalinBirmingham,ProcterR.,Vis,F.&Voss,A.(2011).Retrievedfrom



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Figure10. FurtherexampleofTwitterusersworkingtogethertocombatrumour.WithpermissionfromGuardianNews&MediaLtd.ScreenshottakenfromHowriotrumoursspreadonTwitter:Riotersattackachildren'shospitalin

Birmingham,ProcterR.,Vis,F.&Voss,A.(2011).Retrievedfrom


Whatthisexamplealso illustrates isthatsearchingfor informationaboutanemergingsituationviaa

relevant hashtagorsearch termdoesnotalways render reliable information to theuser.Context is

oftendifficulttoconveyin140charactersbut thisexamplealsodisplaysthebenefitsofcollaboration

in an information network, such as Twitter. The rumour spreadbecause itwasdramaticnews and

because itwasnotchallenged immediately. However,asmorepeopleonTwitterfoundoutabout it,

they began to crossverify and checkwith official sources, both online and offline, to corroborate

reports.Despitethismisinformationspreading,inthespaceoftwohours,theTwittercommunitywas

able to discredit the rumour; this example also demonstrates how users who are part of social

networksembracecollaborationasameanstorefinethequalityofthe informationbeingproduced,

so thatthey feelabletomake informedjudgements. Intheend, itwas throughofficialverification

thatthe

rumour

was

quashed

and

this

shows

the

significant

impact

that

official

organisations

can

haveincorrectingrumourandreducingpanicquickly.

5.2Contentanalysisoftweetsduringthe2009H1N1pandemicAsmentionedabove,10,000swineflurelatedtweetswerepostedwithinthespaceofanhourduringthe

2009H1N1outbreak.Thesemessagescame indifferentforms,rangingfromusersretweetingCDChealth

alertstomorepersonalstatements,suchas,Igotsdaflu,orsickwiththisflu itstakingovermybody


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ughhhh.(Paul&Dredze,2011,p.1)Howcanwequantifythevalueofthiscontent?Fromit,canwelearn

aboutpublicsentiment?Oranalysethesignificanceofthedifferenttypesofinformationbeingexchanged?

Socialmediausersoriginatefromavarietyofbackgrounds;theymayworkingovernmentdepartmentsas

professionalsandexperts,ortheymayformpartofthegeneralpublic,forwhomtheuseofsocialmediais

a means to relax, socialise, or inform themselves about the latest debates and news. Thismeans that

messagescan

range

in

tone

and

emphasis;

particularly

during

apublic

health

crisis.

Posted

content

in

a

crisis can range frompractical key information aboutwhat todo (symptom recognition,where to get

vaccinated,orfindhelpetc.),tousersindividualresponses;theirthoughtsandopinionsaboutthecrisis.As

withallhumancommentary,personalresponsesencompasseverythingfromefficientreporting,toworry,

exaggeration,andevenhumourorsarcasm.

Intheirstudy YouAreWhatYouTweet:AnalyzingTwitter forPublicHealth,PaulandDredzemake the

pointthatindividualtweets,containlittleinformationalvaluebuttheaggregationofmillionsofmessages

cangenerateimportantknowledge(2011,p.1).Inotherwords,thisplethoraofvariedcommentarycanin

fact be collated and assessed to provide an instantaneous snapshot of the publics opinions and

behaviouralresponses.(Chew&Eysenbach,2010,p.2) Asdemonstratedabove,usersthemselvesassess

varioussources

on

social

networks

to

make

an

informed

choice.

Therefore,

organisations

involved

in

crisis

communication shouldemploy a similar tactic,where communication responses arebased on evidence

selectedfrommultiplesources.

Withtherighttools,ispossibletomineorscrapeamultitudeofmessagesaboutatopic(theH1N1virus

forexample),whichtheycanthenbeassessedona largescaletogaugeoverallpublicsentimentabouta

trendingtopicorconcern.Socialmediaisuniquebecauseitcangiveusagreatersenseaboutwhatpeople

are thinking, which can be accessed more widely and more immediately than public reaction to a

newspaperarticleoraTVnewsbulletin.Intheirstudy,ChewandEysenbachcallthisminingapproachas

infoveillanceorinfodemiology. (2010,p.1)Theyanalysedthecontentandcontextoftweetstoseeif

deeperanalysiscould revealmoreabout the typesofmessagesbeingexchanged.BetweenMay1stand

December 31st,

they archived over 2 million Twitter posts which contained the keywords swine flu,

swineflu, and/or H1N1, and then took 5,395 of these tweets at random to analysewhat types of

messages were shared. Tweets were categorised into different types of messages, from: resource,

personalexperience,personalopinionandinterest,joke/parody,marketingandspam.

Significantly, H1N1 resources and news stories were found to be the most common type of content

shared(52.6%),followedbypersonalexperiences(22.5%),humour(12.7%),concern(11.7%)andquestions

(10.3%). Only4.5%of the tweets analysedwere categorised as containingmisinformation. In addition,

61.8%of the tweets contained links toexternal sites,with23.2%ofallposts linking through toanews

website.However, only 1.5% of the tweets analysed linked to government and public health agencies.

(ChewandEysenbach,2010,p.78)

ChewandEysenbachalsofoundthatpeaksintwitteractivityusuallycoincidedwithmajornewsstories,for

example,therewasasizeablereactiontoWHOsPandemicLevel6announcementon June11 (label A,

Fig.9),whichwaswidelyreported inthetraditionalmedia.However, it isalso interestingtonotethat in

theiranalysis,tweetswhichcontainedconcern(expressedself,others,byemoticonsoringeneral)spiked

massively (30.66%ofall tweets)on July5th, following theannouncement thatHarryPotteractorRupert

Grinthadcaughtthevirus(Fig11)whichalsocoincidedwiththehighestpeakinhumourbasedtweets.


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Figure11.TherelativeproportionoftweetsexpressingconcernfromMay1toDecember312009.Blue=concernforothers.Red=concernforself.Yellow=concernedemoticons.Green=generalconcern.A=June11:WHOpandemic

level6announcement.1=July5:HarryPotteractorRupertGrinthasH1N1.ReproducedundertheCreativeCommons

license.TakenfromPandemicsintheAgeofTwitter:ContentAnalysisofTweetsduringthe2009H1N1Outbreak,

Chew,C.,Eysenbach,G. 2010,PLoSONE5(11)p.9,Fig.9.

ChewandEysenbachalsofoundthatthetypeofcontentproducedalsochangedovertime,withpersonal

accounts regarding the H1N1 virus increasing with time, while the amount of humorous accounts

decreasing perhaps due to the increasing perceived seriousness of the situation and/or the declining

popularity of the subject. (2010, p.8) In addition, their findings suggest that overall tweet volume is

positively correlated to an increase in perceived threat during a public emergency, as well as to an

increaseinnewscoverage.

Analysing tweets is a goodway ofmeasuring the types ofmessages being posted and shared.On the

whole,theresultsofChewandEysenbachsstudyareencouragingbecausethemajorityofthetweetswere

informative and linked to news websites. However, for the organisations or individuals assessing the

semantic quality of the tweets then sophisticated software is required to tease out themeaning and

context ofwhat is being posted in realtime.Chew and Eysenbach pointout thatwhilst links topublic

healthand

government

authorities

were

low

(1.5%),

this

might

reflect

the

lack

of

critical

assessment

and

evaluationofonlinehealth informationbyconsumers. (2010,p.11)Thisalsosuggestsan issuewith the

wayhealthinformation ispresentedasuserswereabletodisseminatevastamountsofnewsupdatesbut

thereseemstobealackofvisiblehealthinformationavailabletosharewithinthenetwork.

Fromthecontentanalysis inFigure12 ,whichshowstweetscontaining personalexperiences, it isclear

that there were certain points during the crisis where the mention of personal or family members

experiencespeaked.Bymonitoringexpressionofsentimentinthisway,publicauthoritiescouldrespondto

theserealconcernsofusersandreactaccordingly.Thetimelyprovisionofinformationinthiscontextcould

reassure the publicof agenciesongoing efforts,perhapshelpingpeople tomake an informeddecision

abouteither theirownhealth,or thatof someoneclose to them,either inaphysicalordigitalcontext.

ChewandEysenbachsstudyshowsthatmonitoringsocialmediaandanalysingmessages inthisway isa

morescientificmeansofgaugingonlinesentimentandtoprovidingatimelyresponse.Messagesthatcould

be interpretedasconcerncouldbedirectlyaddressed.Whilst it isdifficultto interprettheexacttoneand

contextofthesemessages,whenassessedonalargescaletheycangiveusefulindicatorsaboutthelevelof

panic, which is otherwise relatively intangible, yet important for authorities to understand. Similarly,

sarcasticorhumourousmessagescouldberespondedtobyauthoritieswithpoststoincreaseawarenessof

impendingrisksthatpeoplemaywanttoconsidermoreseriously.


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Figure12.TherelativeproportionoftweetssharingpersonalexperiencesfromMay1toDecember312009.Red=indirect(family/friend)experience.Yellow=personal/directexperience.Blue=vaccinationexperience.A=June11:

WHOpandemiclevel6announcement.1=Oct6:H1N1vaccinationsarriveintheUS.ReproducedundertheCreative

Commonslicense.TakenfromPandemicsintheAgeofTwitter:ContentAnalysisofTweetsduringthe2009H1N1

Outbreak,Chew,C.,Eysenbach,G. 2010,PLoSONE5(11)p.9,Fig.8.

Itisimportanttorememberthatwhilstthesocialnetworkmediumcangiveusanindicationofsentiment,

there

are

many

drawbacks

to

using

this

data

as

a

direct

interpretation

of

general

public

mood.

Chew

and

Eysenbachacknowledgethat50.8%ofitstotalusersareAmericansandonly19%ofAmericansuseTwitter.

(2010,p.12)Itisalsoimportanttonotethatnotallofthesemessagesareusefulwhenplanningacrisis.For

example,humourouspostswerenotclassifiedasbeingmisinformation,buttheymightnotbehelpful in

encouraging an efficient response to public health concerns. Furthermore, Twitter is only a small

representationofapopulation (even thoughusersmay refer topeople theyknowor localitiesaffected)

andnotallTwitteruserswillreportaproblemeveniftheyhaveit(preferringtojustwatchthecomments

unfold).However,whilstnotonehundredper centaccurate,socialmediapresentshealthauthorities

withanunprecedentedvolumeof realtime information,potential intelligenceon crisis spread,and can

revealgapsininformationandresourceswhichthepublicrequire.

Atthe

start

of

the

2009

H1N1

outbreak

there

was

much

uncertainty

about

how

prevalent

the

virus

wouldbeestimates rangedbetween5%and30%of theUKpopulation contracting thevirus,with

somepredictingupto65,000deathsand peoplemayhavebeenwaryofthe factthatthiswasthe

first pandemic to occur in more than 40 years (Hilton & Smith, 2010, p.12). In previous health

epidemics,surveyswereoftenconductedyettherewasoftenatimelagincollectingresults,meaningthat

any response or resources designed to correspondwith findings could become very quickly outdated.

ThroughcarefulanalysislikeChewandEysenbachsstudy,sentimentcanbetrackedinanevidencebased

way and this information can be used tomake rapidjudgements on how to respond to the publics

concerns. TheystatethatTrackingtweetedmisinformationandquestions ispotentiallyusefulforpublic

healthagenciestoaddress informationneedsofthepublicanddirectonlineandofflinehealtheducation

initiatives

and

campaigns.

(Chew

&

Eysenbach,

2010,

p.11)

This

study

manually

classified

the

tweets

into

categories,butduringapublichealthcrisishoweverChewandEysenbachconcludethatmoreadvanced

semantic processing tools may be used in the future to classify tweets with more precision and

accuracy.(2010,p.12) This study shows that a lot canbedone to accurately track sentiment,but the

question iswhetherorganisations can afford financially and operationally to invest in these tools and

resourcestomonitorandactonthesentimentexpressedonsocialmediainrealtime.

ThesetwocasesstudiesdemonstratethewayinwhichsocialmediaactivityonTwitterhasbeenmonitored

andanalysedtotrackbehaviourduringrealorpotentialcrises. However,itmustbenotedthatwhilstthe

twocases studiescovered in this report focusTwitterasameans to trackand interceptsentiment, it is


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possibleforthisprocesstobereplicatedonothersocialmediasites. ThereasonwhyTwitterdominates

thefieldoftrackingonlinesentimentisthatitisanopensourcemedium.Underitstermsandconditions,it

allowsresearchersoranalyststoviewuserspubliccommentsortracktrends,whichcanthenbemined

foranalysis. Incontrast,theworldsmostpopularsocialnetworkFacebookhasmorecomplexrulesover

howdata aboutusers activity canbeaccessed andused. Firstly,onlypublicprofiles andpages can be

openly accessed, yetmostusersbelong to closednetworkswhichmightonlybedirectlypenetrableby

targetingadvertstospecifiedgroups.Furthermore,EysenbachandTill (2001)claim that:internetbased

researchraisesseveralethicalquestions,especiallypertainingtoprivacyandinformedconsent.Datathat

ismadepubliclyavailable,eitherby the individualuserorunder the termsand conditionsof the social

network,isgenerallyconsideredasfreetoutiliseforsentimentanalysis.However,Wilsonclaimsthatsince

March2011,Facebookhasstatedthatdatacannotbecollectedusingautomatedanalysisordatacrawling

toolswithouttheexplicitapprovalofFacebookInc.(2012,para.9)Privacyrulessuchasthesemakeitmore

difficult for those involved incrisiscommunication to trulyutilise thedatabeingsharedonsocialmedia

sites,inordertopreparepublichealthresponseswhichreflectanetworksneed.Eachsocialnetworkswill

have different rules on how users data can be accessed or used but if public health authorities and

researcherscanethicallyobtainthisdatafromindividualnetworks,ithasthepotentialtoinformresearch

anddevelop

precise

communication

responses

that

meet

aneed

that

can

be

quantified

which

is

unprecedentedintermsofplanningcrisiscommunications.


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6.Integratingsocialmediaintocrisiscommunicationstrategies

6.1Introductionandrationale

Forthepurposesofthisreport,itwasdecidedtofocustheresearchonhoworganisationsinvolvedincrisis

communicationcouldusesocialmediamoreeffectivelyduringpublicemergencies.Asoriginallystated in

theTellMeDescriptionofWorkbooklet, theBMJGroupwereasked to carryouta surveyof itsonline

doctorscommunitydoc2doc.Following initial interviewswith foundingmembersof thecommunity, the

commonbeliefwas that asking individualhealthcare professionals their opinionson using socialmedia

during a crisis is likely to be heavily influenced by the organisations that employ them. From a UK

perspective, there ismuchconcernabouthealthcareprofessionalsusingsocialmedia. BoththeGeneral

Medical Council (GMC, 2011) and the BritishMedicalAssociation (BMA, 2011) have recently published

guidanceondoctorsuseofsocialmediaandanarticleinTheLancetstatesthatcurrentguidancefocuses

moreontherisksthanthebenefitsofdoctors'useofsocialmedia.(Lancet,2012,para.2)Thisstatement

seemstosumupthepositionofmostpublichealthorganisationsinregardstotheiremployersusingsocial

media.Fearof litigationordamagetothereputationoftheorganisationoran individualoversomething

postedonasocialmediasitehascausedthehealthprofessiontobewaryoftheusesofsocialmedia. In

lightof

this,

it

was

decided

that

BMJ

Group

would

collaborate

with

the

@nhssm

Twitter

community,

which

is a collective of healthcare professionals, healthcare directors and public health communicators, who

discusstheopportunitiesandrealitiesof integratingsocialmediawithintheNHS.Itwasdeemedthatthis

approachwouldprovideavaluable insightintohowtheNHSandotherhealthcareorganisationsviewthe

role of social media in crisis communication, as well as understand the challenges in integrating it in

communicationstrategies.

6.2Theimportanceofsocialmediacommunicationduringacrisis

In reference to the 2003 SARS outbreak, Semaan,Mark andAlAni claim that the Chinese government

placedrestrictions

on

all

media

outlets

limiting

the

publication

of

any

SARS

related

stories

to

decrease

the

likelihood of mass panic. (2010, p.6) As rumour about an outbreak spread, this lack of information

arguablycreatedtheoppositeeffect,ascitizenswhowereunsureofwhatwashappeningwereunnerved,

andbegantotalkamongsteachotherto findoutmoreaboutthe unofficialvirus.Forthe international

community, individualaccountsbegantoaddweightto intelligenceaboutwhatwashappening inChina,

yet this disparate process also developed erroneous and conflicting information, only adding to the

confusion.Theethosofthesocialwebisoneoftransparencyandopenness,encouraginginformationtobe

exchanged freely in a variety of ways. Authorities should now expect crises to be discussed on such

platforms.Inordertoasserttheirauthorityandexpertise,organisationsshouldaimtoreflectthisethosby

participatingandcontributingtothedebate,ratherthan ignoringorsuppressing it.Furthermore,there is

evidence thatevenamongst theseaofusergeneratedcontentavailableon socialmedia; thepublicare

predisposed to value official voices. In a survey by the American Red Cross about social media

communication during crises, 80% of respondents said that they expect national emergency response

organisationstomonitorandinteractandprovideinformationonsocialmedia.(AmericanRedCross,2011,

p.17)However, itappearsthatpublichealthagenciesfallshortofsuchexpectations;failingtoestablisha

presence on social media platforms and to engage nonprofessional users with crisisrelated health

information(as illustratedbyChewandEysenbachsstudy inwhichonly1.5%oftweets included linksto

governmentandpublichealthagencies).(2010,p.8)


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In addition, a survey carried out by Taylor,Wells,Howell and Raphael (2012), of 1,146 respondents in

AustraliaandNewZealandwhohadusedsocialmediaduringrecentnaturaldisasters,foundthat75%of

respondents said that theywouldcheckFacebook for the latestnews (compared to85%who said they

would check TV news) and 31% said theywould use Twitter to get updates.Also, 56% of respondents

claimed that theywould equally rely on updates from official response agencies and information from

socialmedia,butonly6%said that theywould trustnonofficialsourceson socialmediamore than the

official voice of response agencies. (2012, p.23) This seems to suggest that response agencies could

benefit online from their established offline authority, and that they should recognise that the places

where citizens are seeking information is changing. It is now the responsibility of expert agencies to

interpretthischanginglandscapeandensurethattheyarepresentasakeyinformationproviderandpoint

ofcontactduringacrisis. Morozovclaims thatduring the2009pandemic,theCDCsemergencyTwitter

accountwas one of the few official accountswhich to post information but asks questions about the

presenceofotherkeyorganisationsinvolvedinthemanagementofthepandemic:

ButwhatabouttherestoftheUSgovernmentorinternationalinstitutionslikeWHO?Inan ideal

world, they would have established ownership of most online conversations from the very

beginning,

posting

updates

as

often

as

they

can.

Instead,

they

are

now

faced

with

the

prospect

of

thousandsofreallyfearfulcitizens,allarmedwiththeirownminiplatformstobroadcasttheirfears

whichmaycostitdearlyinthelongterm.(Morozov,2009,para.9)

It is important for authorities to establish ownership and authority over crises discourses, particularly

online,where informationand sentimentcanchange soquickly.Whilstorganisationscannotnecessarily

controlthemessagesbeingexchanged,theycanbeavisiblepresencethatspreadstrustworthyadviceand

information. Increasingly, socialmedia is becoming themedium throughwhich userswant to find out

about breaking news, and this platform also allows them to comment on it and broadcast it to their

network. Byactivelyengagingwithsentimentandactivityonline,organisationscouldhaveastake inthe

conversationandusers in theircollaborativenetworksare likely tocrossverifyandendorse information

suppliedby

official

sources,

to

ensure

that

quality

information

is

being

produced

for

the

benefit

of

their

network. One example of how an authority established ownership of an online discussion in order to

disperserumourwasduringtheUKriotsinAugust2011,localpolicemanSuperintendentMarkPaynefrom

WolverhamptontooktoTwittertocounteractrumourswithreliableupdateswhichreassuredthepublic.

Figure13.ExampleofatweetsentbySuperintendent MarkPayneduringthedisorder.(Brightwell,2011)Retrievedfromhttp://blog.publici.info/2011/08/howbloggersandpolicecounteredriotrumoursinwolverhampton/


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Being an official source meant that his updates provided reliable information to the people of

Wolverhampton and his commentswere also reposted by individualswho ran a Facebook page called

WV11,whichgaveupdatesontheunfoldingsituation.StephJenningsoftheWV11blogsaid:Whenweset

upWV11wemade a decision thatwedonly ever report things ifwe knew theywere fact, so getting

updates fromMark andotherpoliceofficerswas really valuable. (Brightwell,2011,para.8)During this

timeofcrisisSuperintendentPaynebecameatrustedpresenceonline.Thisopennesssoughttodispelany

rumoursandreduceanxietybykeeping localcitizensuptodatewiththeworkofthepolice. Thepublic

nowdemandopennessonlinebut thismay seem likeaparadox tomostorganisations.Authoritiesmay

seektohaveadegreeofcontrolovermessagestheypostparticularlyiffactsarestillemergingorareyetto

beverified. However,failuretoparticipate,andtoallowtheanecdotesofthecrowdtocompletelysway

thedirectionofsentimentandtheinformationbeingproducedcouldhaveadetrimentaleffect.

However,itcouldbeargued,thatreportingevents(intheexampleofSuperintendentMarkPayne)andthe

distributionofhealthorscientific informationaretwodifferentformsofcommunication.Waldockclaims

thatmostscientificcommunicationisdevelopedandagreedadvanceunderstableconditions,butthatin

emergencieswherethereissignificanttimepressure,andthescopeoftheeventsandtheir impactisstill

emerging

and

volatile,

scientific

communication

has

to

adapt

to

delivering

information

urgently

to

a

mix

of

stakeholders.(Waldock,2012,p.1)Therearetimeswhenthistypeofsensitive information isdifficultto

discussonline;orwhenauthoritiesarenotinpossessionofthefullsetoffacts.Oneofthemostprominent

communicationchallengesofthe2009H1N1pandemicwaspublicopinionagainstvaccinationavoiding

panicandexplainingtheusefulnessofvaccination.(Thinus,2010,p.5) Therewaswidespreadquestioning

of itsefficacy,potentiallongtermsideeffects,andtheconflictsof interestsurroundingtheproductionof

thevaccine(Cohen,2012)andonesurveystatedthatrespondentswereoftenmoreconcernedaboutthe

risksofthevaccinethanthevirusitself.HiltonandSmithexplainthat:

Thekeyconcernsexpressedwereaboutthespeedofits[thevaccines]developmentandwhetherit

hadbeensufficientlytrialled.Forinstance,oneparticipantcomment

Documents

D2.5 New Social Media