RESEARCH PAPER
The role of social media in emergency management during the 2019 flood in Poland
| 1 | War Studies Univesity, Poland |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Online publication date: 2019-12-24
Publication date: 2019-12-24
Submission date: 2019-06-22
Acceptance date: 2019-07-15
Security and Defence Quarterly 2019;27(5):32–43
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
The aim of this article is to discuss the role of social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, during the floods that took place in Poland in May 2019. The following research questions guided the study: (1) How is social media used by different actors at various stages of the disaster management cycle? (2) To what extent were social networking sites used during the 2019 floods in Poland?
Methods:
The study employed social media analytic tools to analyze social media data published on Facebook and Twitter qualitatively and quantitatively in the period from 1 March to 10 June 2019.
Results:
Social Media is used during emergencies by various actors for different purposes: emergency services use it to broadcast weather alerts and situational updates; authorities communicate weather alerts and offer assistance; mass media outlets share up-to-date information; individual users connect and share their experiences of the disaster as well as express political views; organizations spread general comments, situational updates and political comments.
Conclusions:
Despite several drawbacks, such as the chaotic spread of messages, their unreliability and the politicization of the news- feed, social networking sites support disaster management. Therefore, they should be incorporated as an additional communication channel during emergencies.
The aim of this article is to discuss the role of social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, during the floods that took place in Poland in May 2019. The following research questions guided the study: (1) How is social media used by different actors at various stages of the disaster management cycle? (2) To what extent were social networking sites used during the 2019 floods in Poland?
Methods:
The study employed social media analytic tools to analyze social media data published on Facebook and Twitter qualitatively and quantitatively in the period from 1 March to 10 June 2019.
Results:
Social Media is used during emergencies by various actors for different purposes: emergency services use it to broadcast weather alerts and situational updates; authorities communicate weather alerts and offer assistance; mass media outlets share up-to-date information; individual users connect and share their experiences of the disaster as well as express political views; organizations spread general comments, situational updates and political comments.
Conclusions:
Despite several drawbacks, such as the chaotic spread of messages, their unreliability and the politicization of the news- feed, social networking sites support disaster management. Therefore, they should be incorporated as an additional communication channel during emergencies.
REFERENCES (43)
1.
’t Hart, P., 2014. Managing crises long term: the challenges of preparedness and response. In: Boston‚ Jonathan, J. Wanna, V. Lipski, and J. Pritchard, eds. Managing Risks, Responding to Crises and Building Resilience, Canberra: ANU Press, 167–188.
2.
Aldehoff, L., Dankenbring, M., and Reuter, C., 2019. Renouncing Privacy for Crisis Management? CoRe Paper-Privacy Risk Management in. In: Z. Franco, J.J. González, and J.H. Canós, eds. Privacy Risk Management in Critical Infrastructures. Valencia, p. 1184–1197.
3.
Bhuvana, N. and Arul Aram, I., 2019. Facebook and Whatsapp as disaster management tools during the Chennai (India) floods of 2015. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdr....
4.
Bielawski, R. and Grenda, B., 2019. Wybrane zagadnienia cyberbezpieczeństwa narodowego. Wrocław: Exante.
5.
Bird, D., Ling, M., and Haynes, K., 2012. The use of social media during the Queensland and Victorian floods. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 27 (1), 27–33.
6.
Boin, A., 2009. The new world of crises and crisis management: Implications for policymaking and research. Review of Policy Research.
7.
Castells, M., 2002. The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. New York.
8.
Chartfield, A.T. and Brajawidagda, U., 2013. Twitter early tsunami warning system: A case study in Indonesia’s natural disaster management. In: Proceedings of the 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Hawaii: IEEE Computer Society, 2050–2060.
9.
Dijk, J. van, 2006. The network society. Social aspects of new media. London: Sage Publications.
10.
Domalewska, D., 2016. Immigration, stereotypes, and social security: The portrayal of migrant groups in public discourse. Security and Defence Quarterly, 4 (13), 15–31. https://doi.org/10.35467/sdq/1....
11.
Domalewska, D., 2017. Approaches to studying across culturally contrasting groups: Implications for Security Education, 3 (16), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.35467/sdq/1....
12.
Gawlik-Kobylińska, M. and Maciejewski, P., 2019. New Technologies in Education for Security and Safety. In: Proceedings of the 2019 8th International Conference on Educational and Information Technology. ACM, 198–202.
13.
Górnikiewicz, M. and Szczurek, T., 2017. Determinanty kształtowania bezpieczeństwa wewnętrznego. In: E. Ślachcińska, ed. Prognozowanie międzynarodowych stosunków wojskowych na podstawie uwarunkowań społeczno-kulturowych. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Bankowej, 103-113.
14.
Gryz, J. and Kitler, W., 2007. System reagowania kryzysowego. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek.
15.
Ichiguchi, T., 2011. Robust and usable media for communication in a disaster. The Quarterly Review, 41 (4), 44–55.
16.
Kaewkitipong, L., Chen, C., and Ractham, P., 2012. Lessons learned from the use of social media in combating a crisis: A case study of 2011 Thailand flooding disaster. In: Thirty Third International Conference on Information Systems. Orlando.
17.
Latonero, M. and Shklovski, I., 2011. Emergency Management, Twitter, and Social Media Evangelism. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, 3 (4), 1–16.
18.
Lewandowski, P. and Bieniek, J., 2019. Administracja porządku publicznego i bezpieczeństwo społeczności lokalnych. Warszawa: Akademia Sztuki Wojennej.
19.
Marszałek, M., Sobolewski, G., and Majchrzak, D., 2013. Zarządzanie kryzysowe w ujęciu narodowym i międzynarodowym. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Akademii Obrony Narodowej.
20.
Meijer, A.J. and Torenvlied, R., 2016. Social Media and the New Organization of Government Communications. The American Review of Public Administration, 46 (2), 143–161.
21.
Merry, M.K., 2014. Framing environmental disaster : environmental advocacy and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Routledge.
22.
Nugroho, Y., 2011. Citizens in @ction: Collaboration, participatory democracy and freedom of information - Mapping contemporary civic activism and the use of new social media in Indonesia. Manchester & Jakarta.
23.
Palen, L. and Hughes, A.L., 2018. Social Media in Disaster Communication. In: H. Rodriguez, W. Donner, and J.E. Trainor, eds. Handbook of Disaster Research. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 497–518.
24.
Perng, S. ‐Y., Büscher, M., Wood, L., Halvorsrud, R., Stiso, M., Ramirez, L., and Al-Akkad, A., 2012. Peripheral response: Microblogging during the 22/7/2011 Norway attacks. In: L. Rothkrantz, J. Ristvej, and Z. Franco, eds. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM). Brussels, 1–11.
25.
Potrifiev, B.N., 2006. Disaster and Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: Commonalities and Peculiarities. In: H. Rodriguez, E. Quarantelli, and R. Dynes, eds. Handbook of Disaster Research. New York: Springer, 368–404.
26.
Reuter, C., Ludwig, T., Friberg, T., Pratzler-Wanczura, S., and Gizikis, A., 2015. Social Media and Emergency Services? International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, 7 (2), 36–58.
27.
Reuter, C., Marx, A., and Pipek, V., 2012. Crisis Management 2.0: Towards a Systematization of Social Software Use in Crisis Situations. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, 4 (1).
28.
Rosenthal, U., 1998. Future Disasters, Future Definitions. In: E.L. Quarantelli, ed. What Is A Disaster? London and New York: Routledge, 146–159.
29.
Sandman, P.M., 1993. Responding to community outrage: Strategies for effective risk communication. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association.
30.
Schmidt, A., Wolbers, J., Ferguson, J., and Boersma, K., 2018. Are you Ready2Help? Conceptualizing the management of online and onsite volunteer convergence. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 26 (3), 338–349.
31.
Serrano, C.C., Spielhofer, T., Cullen, J., and Reuter, C., 2017. Impact of Social media on citizens and emergency services [online]. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/p... [Accessed 17 May 2019].
32.
Shaw, F., Burgess, J., Crawford, K., and Bruns, A., 2013. Sharing news, making sense, saying thanks: Patterns of talk on twitter during the Queensland floods. Australian Journal of Communication, 40 (1), 23–39.
33.
Soboń, A., 2019. Proobronność Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Teraźniejszość i przyszłość. Warsaw: Akademia Sztuki Wojennej.
34.
Son, J., Lee, H.K., Jin, S., and Lee, J., 2019. Content features of tweets for effective communication during disasters: A media synchronicity theory perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 45, 56–68.
35.
Sutton, J., Palen, L., and Shklovski, I., 2008a. Backchannels on the Front Lines: Emergent Uses of Social Media in the 2007 Southern California Wildfires.
36.
Sutton, J., Palen, L., and Shklovski, I., 2008b. Backchannels on the front lines: Emergent uses of social media in the 2007 Southern California wildfires. In: F. Fiedrich and B. Van de Walle, eds. Creating advanced systems for inter-organizational information sharing and collaboration. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Respnse and Management (ISCRAM). Washington DC, 624–632.
37.
Świerszcz, K., 2016. Integralne wychowanie na rzecz integralnego bezpieczeństwa - jako naglące wyzwanie współczesnych czasów. In: Z. Trejnis and M. Marciniak, eds. Obronność państwa. Uwarunkowania oraz organizacja bezpieczeństwa i obronności. Toruń: Adam Marszałek, 158–193.
38.
Turner, R., 2019. Poland battles rising flood waters [online]. Available from: https://www.dw.com/en/poland-b... [Accessed 15 Jun 2019].
39.
Urych, I., 2019. Potencjał obronny klas wojskowych Teoretyczno-empiryczne aspekty kształcenia obronnego. Warsaw: Akademia Pomorska.
40.
Ustawa z dnia 26 kwietnia 2007r. o zarządzaniu kryzysowym, 2007.
41.
Vieweg, S., Palen, L., Liu, S., Hughes, A., Sutton, J., Vieweg, S., Palen, L., Liu, S.B., Hughes, A.L., and Sutton, J., 2008a. Collective Intelligence in Disaster: An Examination of the Phenomenon in the Aftermath of the 2007 Virginia Tech Shooting. In: Proceedings of the 5th International ISCRAM Conference. Washington DC.
42.
Vieweg, S., Palen, L., Liu, S., Hughes, A., Sutton, J., Vieweg, S., Palen, L., Liu, S.B., Hughes, A.L., and Sutton, J., 2008b. Collective Intelligence in Disaster: An Examination of the Phenomenon in the Aftermath of the 2007 Virginia Tech Shooting.
43.
Żakowska, M. and Domalewska, D., 2019. Factors determining Polish parliamentarians’ tweets on migration. Czech Journal of Political Science, 3, 200–216. DOI: 10.5817/PC2019‐3‐200.
