Social media in emergency management : exploring twitter use by emergency responders in the UK

Parsons, Sophie and Weal, Mark and O'Grady, Nathaniel and Atkinson, Peter Michael (2018) Social media in emergency management : exploring twitter use by emergency responders in the UK. International Journal of Emergency Management, 14 (4). 322 - 343. ISSN 1471-4825

[thumbnail of IJEM 0045 Parsons et al. (4) (1)]
Preview
PDF (IJEM 0045 Parsons et al. (4) (1))
IJEM_0045_Parsons_et_al._4_1_.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial.

Download (730kB)

Abstract

Emergency Management practices are being reshaped by social media. Emergency responders are embracing social media to enhance communications during an emergency. The integration of social media into UK emergency management is ambigious, and it is uncertain as to whether it is an effective tool. Using a mixed methods approach, this research investigates the UK emergency responders use of social media for emergency management, focusing in particular on the UK winter floods of 2013/14. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the UK emergency responders social media activity is examined. This research shows that the responders perceive social media as a useful tool to effectively deliver information to the public, although they do not appear to fully exploit it in an emergency. While the responders appear to predominantly post caution and advice, the results suggest that information about structures and utilities affected by an incident is most likely to engage an audience.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
International Journal of Emergency Management
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2711
Subjects:
?? uk floodsemergency managementsocial mediaaudience engagementmixed methodstwitteremergency respondersemergency communicationslocal resilience forumsthematic analysisemergency medicine ??
ID Code:
125974
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
08 Feb 2019 10:20
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
29 Aug 2024 23:56