Social media in earthquake-related communication. Shake networks

Social media are playing an increasingly important role during and in the aftermath of natural disasters. Several case studies show how citizens and institutions are using them to spread or gather relevant information, share emotions or support recovery actions. In 2013, Potts defined the role of social media during natural disasters as a ‘largely untapped site of study’ (Potts, 2014, p. 98). Although scholars are now engaging in a growing volume of research in this field, the literature still appears fragmented and overwhelmingly based on single case studies. Furthermore, research seems either to consider ‘social media’ as a whole, without heed to the characteristics of different platforms or to look only at individual platforms, with a disproportionate attention being paid to Twitter. In recent years, as social media have increasingly spread among ordinary users to the point of being defined as ‘mainstream sites of relational maintenance’ (Baym, 2010, p. 134), scholars have started to examine everyday practices that take place on social media platforms, gradually beginning to include Facebook (currently the most popular social media platform worldwide) in their analyses. In addition, research seems to focus either on top-down communication or on bottom-up processes. In this book, we try to overcome this fragmentation by providing a comprehensive framework for analysing the role of social media during natural disasters and by taking into account a wide variety of platforms (with their particular affordances and constraints). By crossing two different dimensions (top-down vs bottom-up processes and information sharing vs information gathering), we identify the four different scenarios that are summarised in the following table: top-down information sharing; citizen information gathering; institutional information gathering; bottom-up information sharing. These scenarios can be summarised in two different but complementary ideal-typical patterns: the traditional model and the networked model. In looking at the traditional model, we can observe the ways in which institutions share disaster-related communication on social media (Chapter 1), while citizens act as audiences for such messages (Chapter 2), following the modes of communication familiar to us from traditional disaster communication. When considering the networked model, on the other hand, we observe the ways in which social media usage can enable innovative practices, ranging from bottom-up information sharing, citizen engagement and digital volunteering (Chapter 3), to enhancing situational awareness through social media, up to social sensing in the event of an earthquake (e.g. research relying on social media to provide estimates of the damage produced by a seismic event Chapter 4). As we shall see in the following chapters, the traditional model is far more widespread than the networked one. From a quantitative point of view, institutions tend to use social media to spread rather than to gather, information; citizens, on the other hand, tend to rely on social media more to gather information rather than to share it. Nevertheless, we believe that such emerging (networked) practices, alongside their consistency with broader transformations we are witnessing in the digital world, can provide relevant insights into earthquake-related communication and contribute to disaster communication processes in a substantial way. We do not believe that the networked pattern is, per se, more desirable than the traditional one; rather, we believe that these categories help gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon, while a combination of patterns is needed for more effective communication during and following natural disasters. Moreover, the distinction between the two patterns should not be considered as binary, since different types of overlap occur in concrete communication situations. We do believe, however, that the two models are useful for analytical purposes. In rejecting the position held by technological determinists, we do not believe that the networked model is a direct consequence of the rise of social media. Indeed, it originates in broader social transformations, described as the ‘networked individualism operating system’ (Rainie & Wellman, 2012). It is further related to a shift in the conceptual frameworks that inform emergency management, effectively summarised in the sociology of disaster with reference to the shift from the command and control model to the active survivor model (Rodriguez, Quarantelli, & Dynes, 2007). However, social media do enable communication and interaction practices that make visible a number of dynamics that have already been occurring in social life (particularly with regard to the active behaviour of citizens); indeed, the rise of these dynamics, and their growing visibility on social media, have led to a reconfiguration of the relations between the different actors involved and of their power and agency. As we shall discuss throughout the book, cultural considerations are important, along with technological concerns, if insti- tutions are to embrace fully the networked logic. Indeed, the full integration of digital and social media in disaster communication and management highlights the need to overcome the command and control models mentioned above, as ‘they do not easily adapt to the expanding data-generating and data-seeking activities by the public’ (Alexander, 2014). The book is divided into four chapters. After presenting the conceptual framework, we shall look at the four different scenarios. In each chapter, we provide a literature review at an international level and one or more case studies based on our own research project. While the conceptual frameworks build on a variety of research traditions (including research addressing a broad set of crises and disastrous events), the case studies focus on earthquake-related communication. In considering institutions, we focus particularly on both local-level emergency management and on the communication processes of scientific institutions worldwide. We also investigate communicative practices, social media affordances and the barriers to a more extensive use of social media. In the construction of our conceptual framework, we rely on several fields of study, which have traditionally been operating, as it were, in isolation from each other, without regard to the variety of conceptual patterns and empirical results offered by other perspectives. We mainly refer to the sociology of disaster, crisis informatics, crisis communication and science communication. Moreover, we appeal for a deeper dialogue between these fields and communication (and Internet) studies, as we believe this might contribute to a better understanding of communication dynamics in the context of social media disaster communication, particularly with regard to active audiences and the communicative practices enabled by digital and social media. This book is the result of a three-year research project involving both social scientists and seismologists. All of the findings have been thor- oughly discussed by participants in the research project within what has become a far-reaching interdisciplinary environment.