Social media in Disaster Response and Preparedness

11.04.2023 Social Media for Good – www.sm4good.com 1

Social Media and Online Collaboration in Disaster Response and Preparedness

Anticipate, reduce the impact and cope with disasters

#sm4resPhoto: Félix Genêt Laframboise/IFRC

11.04.2023 2Social Media for Good – www.sm4good.com

Photo: Marco Dormino/UNDP

How useful is social media when you are faced with this?


Photo: Marco Dormino/UNDP

How useful is all of this when you are faced with a disaster?

Can be very useful for disaster preparedness Can provide life-saving information to survivors Can increase your awareness of what is happening,

improve accountability and transparency

-> All of this depends on your country

-> You need to practise before an emergency


DISASTER PREPAREDNESS


Example: The Great ShakeOut Annual earthquake drill in the US Since 2008; last year 9.3 million people

participated in California alone Social media is used to encourage safe

behaviour, create excitement and keep people involved over the year

Also includes mass media, emergency response organizations, city government etc.


ShakeOut is not a social media campaign, but a disaster preparedness activity that is supported by social media.


“[W]hat makes us special is that we are already extremely relevant. We’re based in Earthquake Country. Yet, we try to make preparedness and recovery fresh, interesting, and fun. Social media is a great way for us to do that, and I think our sincerity and wish to keep people safe and ready is obvious.” - @JasonBallmann





Regular, useful and relevant updates that keep people interested.


Humour can help: Don’t be tooooooooooo serious, even if the topic is serious


DISASTER RESPONSE


In a disaster social media is about …

trying to help people directly improving your awareness of what is

happening enabling the affected people help

themselves.

Image: UNOCHA; Modified by author

Social media enables communities

People affected by a disaster are either using social media themselves or indirectly through local media to:

Share “safe and well“ messages Coordinate resources to fill needs Find information


It is essential that you listen

Social media

monitoring tool

Other …

Look for hashtags, but do not only focus on hashtags!


Tweetdeck.com

One of many social media listening platforms


Example: Twitter, the Fire Department and Hurricane Sandy

Emiliy Rahimi, NYFD social media manager


Emily Rahimi, NYFD

Answered hundreds of questions via Twitter during Hurricane Sandy

Gave advices and shared warnings Connected people to emergency services

where phone lines had failed Sat at (and slept under) her desk for 30

hours


HOW MOBILE APPS CAN CHANGE THE INFORMATION FLOW

Example


New tools are trying to close the information ->decision loop and include feedback-mechanisms.

www.stormpins.com

http://www.stormpins.com/


New tools are trying to close the information ->decision loop and include feedback-mechanisms.

www.stormpins.com

http://www.stormpins.com/


What is true?


Advice to verify information

What has this user posted in the past? What does the user’s profile tell you in this

context? Are there other sources? Ask internal and external experts What about GPS data Reverse image search (http://www.tineye.com/)

or (http://www.tineye.com/)

http://www.tineye.com/

http://www.tineye.com/


Image: UNOCHA


The information paradox

In a disaster you have at the same time too much and too little information.


What we want:

Enhanced situational awareness though social media and online collaboration


Why use collaborative online tools for situational awareness?

Immediate / in real time(as long as networks and internet are up)

Many eyes and ears Information collection on the

aggregate and the individual level Distributed information analysis


How much is relevant?

About 8 per cent of tweets sent during a disaster contain situational information

After the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, more than 100,000 tweets were posted every five minutes

After the 2011 New Zealand eartquake, 7,500 tweets were posted per hour using the hashtag #nzeq

→ We need tools that help us identify relevant information and remove duplicates


Chile earthquake on Twitter

Image: UNOCHA


CROWDTASKING – FINDING MANY HELPERS ONLINE



Crowdtasking

Strengths:• Allows you perform very big tasks in a very short

period of time. • Easy of use for volunteers• Multiple organizations/companies exists that

provide tools for free/gifts in kind Challenges: • Needs time and some technical expertise to

prepare before a disaster strikes.• Most tools are in English.


CRISIS CLEANUPExample


Why use Crisis Cleanup?

Strengths: Online task management tool for organizations

coordinating volunteers. Developed by someone who had to coordinate

30,000 volunteers in 5,000 locations across 500 miles.

Does not require a centralized „task master“. Improved transparency and accountability Free and open source


Why use Crisis Cleanup?

Weakness:

No data entry by general public Does require dedicated, authenticated data

entry personell (call center)


https://www.crisiscleanup.org

https://www.crisiscleanup.org/

https://www.crisiscleanup.org/





Crisis Cleanup does not use social media but it embodies a social mindset!

-> http://demo.crisiscleanup.org

http://demo.crisiscleanup.org/


Community of Practice for Social Media in Emergencies

Follow #smem on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus

“Social Media in Emergencies” communities on LinkedIn and Google Plus

Various blogs


GROUP WORK


What would an ideal collaborative information management system look like in your country?

1. What information would you like to collect in an emergency or as part of disaster preparedness?

2. How would you get that information?3. How are you sharing the information once you

have collected it?4. With whom are you sharing this information

and why?


Thank you!

Timo LügeSocial Media for [email protected]: @timolue

http://www.sm4good.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://sm4good.com/

Education

Social media in Disaster Response and Preparedness