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Twitter and Tremors: Social Media’s Impact on Natural Disasters

By IGI Global on Nov 18, 2011
On Tuesday, August 23, 2011, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocked much of the East Coast in the United States. Though vastly small in comparison to those that have devastated much of Japan, Haiti, and most recently Turkey, news of the small earthquake spread like wildfire through various social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. "Tweets began pouring in from D.C. nearly 30 seconds before we felt the quake at our headquarters in New York City and well before any reports about the quake emerged from the media," stated Lauren Indvik, associate editor of marketing and media for Mashable.

After all was said and done, it was reported that there were more than "40,000 earthquake-related tweets sent within a minute of its occurrence, hitting a rate of about 5,500 tweets per second – greater than Osama Bin Laden's death and on par with the Japanese earthquake. And although Twitter did not go down during the earthquake, response time almost doubled (from 2.16 seconds to 4.17 seconds) between 1:50 pm EST and 1:55 pm EST, according to data from AlertSite," claimed Indvik.

According to Mark Freeman from the University of Wollongong, Australia, "there is critical need for information when a disaster occurs, it is important for this information to be targeted at the needs of the affected citizens, organizations, and/or governments." Freeman, author of " Fire, Wind and Water: Social Networks in Natural Disasters," recently published in the Journal of Cases on Information Technology, presents the progression of social networking technologies and how they have been used during and in the aftermath of natural disasters in Australia between 2009 and 2011. "Accurate and timely information during national disasters is essential in providing citizens with details about whether they should stay or leave an area," states Freeman. "Social networking technologies are being used by the media and emergency organizations to provide information to citizens […] allowing for knowledge sharing of all parties involved."

Freeman's goal throughout the case study was to present how social networking technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, can be used during and after natural disasters, with a focus on natural disasters that occurred in Australia. What he found during his initial study were both benefits and deterrents for this particular use of media, and most importantly, it was determined that further work must be conducted to establish the extent in which these technologies can provide a service to the community beyond the traditional interactions with government bodies and the media. As stated by Freeman, "social networking technologies can provide a way for citizens to access information that is specific to their geographic needs that also allows them to gain the information in a searchable format. This is something that traditional means of communication cannot do."

To learn more about the use and importance of social networking during natural disasters, check out Mark Freeman's article in the Journal of Cases on Information Technology here: www.igi-global.com/article/fire-wind-water/54467. To read a sample of this case study, click here: www.igi-global.com/viewtitlesample.aspx?id=54467. If you wish to use this case study, or any others found in the Journal of Cases on Information Technology, in your classroom, be sure to contact cases@igi-global.com today!

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