The Role of Social Media in Crisis Management - Case Study Example

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CASE OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT By Location The use of social media has grown in the recent years as part of an online discourse that allows people to develop and share content with others (Jin, et al., 2014). Through social media, it is also now possible to bookmark as well as network the content developed at a remarkable rate. The basic characteristics attached to social media include connectedness, collaboration, collective, clarity and completeness (Patrut & Patrut, 2014, p. 149). These characteristics of social media are consistently being used to support the management of functions that are involved whenever a crisis is in place. The essay analyses the various types of social media tools available in order to help people understand how they can be used to develop an analytical response in the event of a crisis. The essay points out to the four major functions played by the social media. That is, dissemination of information, decision-making and problem-solving techniques, disaster training and planning programs, as well as gathering of information (Bowen & Ozuem, 2015, p. 303). These basic functions are then connected to the three basic management phases expected whenever there is a crisis. The phases include preparedness, response, and an opportunity for recovery. These phases describe how different social media tools can be used to develop communications during a crisis. At the end of the essay, there is a proposal framework on possible ways that can be utilized in enhancing the use of social media by the government officials during times of crisis. For this to be achieved, it would be necessary to seek a mandate, separate the guidelines, as well as develop the three major capabilities available. Keywords: social media; situational awareness; crises; citizen journalism; societal dynamics; standard opening procedures; preparedness Introduction Social media represents the new explosion that has been experienced across the world and created several new roles for the ordinary citizens. Most of these roles range greatly from the act of journalism to the stimulation of effective political change (Gainous & Wagner, 2014, p. 111). Citizens are currently tasked with the role of sharing news, eccentricities, and even events in the global environment. Furthermore, citizens also play a critical role in responding quickly to relevant calls in the event of crises or rather natural disasters. Social media websites are often accessed through the use of digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices. These digital platforms have enabled most individuals to communicate effectively to their family members and friends during cases when landline communication has been rendered defunct due to a crisis. In the aftermath of a crisis, the emergency response officials can use social media reports to obtain geolocation information regarding the affected individuals (Edwards & Santos, 2015, p. 87). Furthermore, the citizens themselves could use the social media platform to locate favourable destinations offering relevant aid services. Regardless of the several advantages that come with the use of social media in the management of crisis, there are a number of issues that have been raised by communication experts with regard to the effectiveness of this method. Such issues may involve individual liberties, ethics in the communication of information, consequences of misuse of information, and enforcement of public safety. The essay tends to explore the opportunities available as well as the possible consequences that are likely to arise in the course of using the social media in resolving large-scale disasters and crises. One important case on record concerning crises involves the United Kingdom riots that occurred in 2011. The surprising turn of events on how a small protest apparently turned into a huge police brutality in Tottenham to spark even more riots and cases of vandalism has encouraged more and more scholars to examine the questions on how the social media presence influenced the riots (Lammy, 2012, p. 9). Social media plays a critical role as both an alleviator and catalyst. Both roles are undeniable, and in the case of the UK riots, it is critical to note that the rioters together with the onlookers used the social media platforms to communicate and organize what was experienced. The rioters would share with each other on critical information such as the areas that were not properly protected. The speed and destructive impact played by the social media overwhelmed the authorities. Research problem The research presented in this essay focuses more on the need to identify the needs and expectations of the end users when developing or rather exploiting possible solutions for issues touching on a crisis. The major research problems the essay seeks to address will include the need for access to the relevant data by the end users as recorded from the social media channels. Also, the essay will highlight in length on the challenges that are involved in integrating the use of social media in the efforts to provide a response (Benson & Morgan, 2014, p. 183). Literature review Several previous studies have been conducted by scholars in effort to consider the use of social media in influencing successful strategies for managing crisis situations. A greater percentage of these studies highlight the need for crisis managers and citizens to put in place reliable mechanisms for managing the information that is provided to them through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook in the course of the crisis (Li, 2013, p. 147). According to an analysis done on content derived from Twitter users, it is recognizable that disasters and accidents are the second most sought after sports events. Also, the analysed cases showed that news appeared first on Twitter before being presented through traditional media. Through this analysis, it is easier to prove the potential social media has in enhancing the communication and information channels in the event of disasters. There are several approaches that have been so far used by different people with the desire to introduce social media to the support activities of the crisis management team. Such efforts span from the existence of the current virtual operations support teams that are purely manual in their operations (Brebbia, 2013, p. 29). The second motivating factor for the use of social media in the crisis management team is the desire to develop an ICT oriented society. It is anticipated that such aspects of society will play a magnificent role in improving the other aspects of the communication process. The capabilities of the virtual operations support team are much limited in terms of processing information for presentation on social portals. Thus, the volunteer teams find it important integrating data and statistics from the social media platforms in enhancing automated monitoring and analysis process. Basic examples of research on information processing may include case studies from the Social Sensor project that majorly involved the crowdsourcing of data from the social media platforms. Solutions proposed after the analysis included the proposal to use an innovative technological, human, ethical and legal, as well as the organizational framework for analysing the problems assessed on under the above dimensions. According to Curtin, Hayman and Husein (2005), there are about three categories of crises. They include crises that affect individuals or an organization, manufactured crises, as well as those that develop accidentally. For a certain incident to qualify to be categorized as a full-blown crisis, it must be able to escalate in its intensity, interfere with the normal business operations as well as fall under close scrutiny by the media or the government. Also, a situation is categorized to be a crisis if it jeopardizes the public image and damages the bottom line of a company in whichever means. Coombs (2007) also thinks that crises can range from company lawsuits, industrial accidents, or even sex scandals involving public officers and can threaten the potential safety of the public. More threatening is the fact that it could lead to financial loss as well as compromise the reputation of an organization. Finally, Caywood and Stocker (1997) agree that how crisis is managed can determine the life or death of a company, product, or even career. Mapping crises In evaluating the contribution played by the social media platform in managing a crisis, it is necessary to classify the crises faced into different categories. The categories may be based on their impact on the society and the response actions expected from the people. Ideally, crises can be categorized into six broad groups. These include floods, storms, extreme temperatures, earthquakes, wildfires, and other man-made disasters (Flint & Robinson, 2008, p. 224). Various case studies on the above types of crises proved that the societal impact of their occurrence fell much on the citizens, government bodies and the infrastructure associated with the citizens. A crisis has the capability of affecting the safety, as well as security of citizens in various ways. The destruction could be physical or rather mental, and could destroy entire communities together with their supporting infrastructure that is critical in the communication process. Citizens can also lose personal property, life, and even their entire civilisations in some case studies. Social media platforms play a great role in the management of crises since people have an unending desire to help other citizens who suffer from disasters. When assessed individually, it is evident that most people are never passive and will often be stimulated into helping other citizens during crisis situations. Such behaviour can be observed in both communities and organizations and indicates a different level of work that people are willing to adopt within their lives. People are not willing to be left behind in the communication process during a crisis when there are new technologies such as social media that could make it easier for people to communicate (Cambie & Ooi, 2009, p. 7). Most societal dynamics are much dependent on the actual time taken to develop and resolve a crisis. According to societal dynamics, it makes no big difference with the type of crises that affects a community (Haddon, et al., 2012, p. 27). Instead, the insight on the possible social media platforms to be used in the communication process is what matters in resolving tragic cases such as those that involve earthquakes. Such forms of crises often occur without displaying any serious warning periods. The role to be played by the government after such a crisis is often limited. Without the input of the citizens and the use of the social media to inform on the progress of such crises, the emergency management agencies would have it hard attending to all the citizens. It is important to note that the gap experienced in communication during crises situations can effectively be filled by citizens who deploy the latest technologies such as the social media to benefit the society that is under duress. Concerning the response measures involving the use of social media platforms, it is still important for emergency agencies to prepare the Standard Operating Procedures (Callahan, 2010, p. 90). The SOPs are an important element that ensures the society is well prepared for future responses to any crises that is experienced. However, the presence of SOPs is not an automatic indication of automatic and proper application of the measures in the field. It is surprising to note that with social media input, it might be very necessary to incorporate non-prescribed responses as the crises keeps unfolding in an alternative manner. The social media tools Social media has occasionally been defined as a new form of communication that has managed to facilitate more social interactions and heightened forms of communication. Social media has propagated the use of more online-based platforms that have no boundaries of reach. However, as commonly noted, the medium is never always the message. If the social media platform is used devoid of a useful purpose, then it would to very little to enable the people prepare, respond, and even recover from the looming disasters (Potts, 2013, p. 8). Social media tools can be categorized into social networks and blogs, bookmarking sites, collaborative projects, content communities, and social reviews (Poynter, 2010, p. 54). But, the most common social media tools used for the communication purpose are the social networks and blogs. Social networking sites allow people to develop their personal pages and enhance the process of sharing content and communicating with other people. On the other hand, blogs represent online journals or rather discussion sites that are used by people to post content and other relevant updates. Social media tools can overcome any barriers in the communication process as compared to traditional forms of communication. The broad span of communication through social media platforms is made possible by five main characteristics, including collectively, connectivity, completeness, clarity, and collaboration. The collective nature of the social media platforms is important in connecting different people across the geographical boundaries (Lewis, et al., 2013, p. 67). Through this, it is much easier to nurture the growth and development of online communities through communicating important information that would help resolve a crisis. Augmenting social media in crisis management Crises that affect societies whether occasionally or in a regular manner are often complex in nature. They can eventually cause disproportionate effects to the society and can move at varying speeds with could leave the whole society crumbling down if not mitigated effectively. The capacity of the government or other governmental bodies in demonstrating their resilience to responding and resolving crises should be well demonstrated by their ability to tap the useful characteristics portrayed by social media tools (Jordan-Meier, 2011, p. 23). The characteristics of social media tools should be enhanced by developing new platforms that allow for members of a community to collaborate and share ideas with the aim of building a more resilient community. In the event of a looming crisis, the information available on social networks and blogging sites can easily be accessed by the managers and responders, who are tasked with the duty of identifying the source and severity of the crisis. In response, the managers and responders are expected to distribute a uniform message to the communities that are affected in order to curb the anxiety and fear. Crisis managers can be better at their ability to search as well as gather information about a crisis if they can listen to the sentiments of insights provided through social media sites. Altogether, crisis managers should be able to respond to the continuing developments of a situation as they keep developing. Social media can also be effective in enhancing the capacity of the community to forestall and even prepare for a crisis (White, 2011, p. 215). It is possible to initiate collaborative projects on the social media platforms and empower the interested parties to contribute the insights they have on certain issues pertinent to the development of crises. The information provided should then be analysed and validated effectively in order to support effective intervention opportunities in the event of the occurrence of a crisis. Crisis managers can also use this opportunity to monitor and scrutinize the content communities in order to identify the emerging trends as well as the potential hotspots that can eventually develop into flashpoints of crisis (Fink, 2006, p. 147). With time, the crisis managers are empowered with the contribution of the members of the society and are even motivated to mine through the database and identify the relevant concerns and themes expressed. Furthermore, they are also able to identify the key contributors to insightful feedback is important for further analysis. Need for paradigm shift in the use of social media Even though, social media is useful in preparing communities for looming crises, a few setbacks in its use can as well propagate dangerous experiences after that. Therefore, organizations ought to undergo a paradigm shift across different areas of their operation in order for them to be effective in using the social media tools to manage occurring cases of crisis. The basic areas of consideration may include purpose, core activities, stakeholders, information content, treatment of information, software tools, and the expected output. Purpose Before the invention of social media tools, the Internet was majorly used for purposes of gaining useful information only. However, with the introduction of social media tools, it is now possible for people to even share content with each other regardless of long distances separating them apart (Safko, 2012, p. 24). However, these tools have not been fully utilized by crisis managers in finding and mitigating the causes of the crisis that affect citizens without notice. Therefore, concerned parties need to go an extra mile and engage more and more groups of people by developing creative and interactive applications that encourage and enhance collaboration within communities with like-minded ideas. Core activity The ability to handle a crisis effectively depends on the capacity of the crisis managers. They should be able to gather very accurate information that covers the changing environment, as well as the requirements of the affected groups of people (Zarrella, 2010, p. 11). Therefore, future social media tools will be required to be equipped with even more robust capabilities that encourage the decision-making processed in order to generate knowledge that can be actioned upon with much ease. Furthermore, the managers will also have to be equipped with very timely analytical insights to manage possible crises with much ease. Stakeholders In the past, most governments had the monopoly of information. However, this is not the case at present. Information can now be collected with much ease and transmitted even to a wider audience with the help of social media tools (Harrin & Institute, 2010, p. 141). Such an opportunity means that crisis managers have to learn how to deal with multiple parties such as individual citizens and non-governmental organizations. Through the use of social media tools, crisis managers can easily crowdsource in order to gather varying perspectives of the existing challenges. Also, stakeholders provide a rare opportunity for crisis managers to explore innovative and effective solutions that have the ability to enhance the process of managing future forms of crisis. Information content It is often a complex process for crisis managers to analyse the emerging issues together with their effects. Most managers focus much on discrete data alone which is never advisable. Ideally, the focus on discrete data alone can never be sufficient to generate useful insights that can guide the response generate by the stakeholders (Ionas, 2014, p. 28). However, the new capabilities enjoyed by the use of social media have the capacity to help the information managers analyse how dependable the discrete data is in order to provide a clearer understanding of the emerging issues and the possible effects. Treatment of information In the recent, there have been several concerns over the security, privacy, and even confidentiality of data shared between different people. Such concerns can often result in decisions that reduce the range of interchanging data. To enhance proper treatment of information shared, crisis managers should start adopting the social media platforms that encourage transparency of information (Cross & Parker, 2006, p. 2). If this is adopted, there is a greater possibility that the opportunity to integrate and even streamline the process involved in resolving conflicts will satisfy the interests of most stakeholders. Furthermore, if well utilized, the social media tools should be able to improve the speed, as well as accuracy of the communication process, whenever there is a crisis. Software tools The in-house systems within an organization often require one to engage substantial investments on capital. These systems possess real limitations that can affect the full integration of other external systems. Most crisis managers need to take more time examining how they can easily leverage and if possible be plugged into the open-source platforms that provide a wide range of tools that are very flexible and effective in gathering information (Sponder, 2012, p. 13). These tools have the ability to equip the people with the necessary content management capabilities that enhance a more analytical process in working towards resolving crises. Output The behaviour to trust and overly rely on the specialists to provide certain assessments on looming crisis often do not take into account the lack of understanding of the individuals providing the feedback (Fuchs, 2014, p. 6). The assessments could also feature extra biases that are often inevitable when one is conducting an analysis or research. It is possible for crisis managers to develop a reliable response if they can put into consideration a number of factors (Blanchard, 2011, p. 247). First would be the perspectives of the stakeholders concerning the looming crisis. Second would be the assessment of the specialists contracted to gather a comprehensive analysis. Lastly would be the crowdsourced opinions presented on the social media. Combining these factors would enable the crisis manager to make better decisions that are within the acceptable levels of uncertainties and risks. How to apply the social media tools in the management of crisis The process involved in managing crisis can be categorized into three basic phases: preparedness, response, and recovery. The focus of the crisis preparedness phase is majorly on the preventive activities that can eventually reduce the possible risks associated with the occurrence of the crisis (Holloman & Adeyeri, 2012, p. 64). Since not all the crises can be forfended, crisis managers need to engage an equal focus in this phase while planning and training the management team on what to do in the event the crisis is a reality. Crisis response focuses its efforts more on the effectiveness as well as the speed at which the crisis manager and their team move with during their initial response to a situation (Schifferes & Roberts, 2014, p. 52). Basically, there is the need for the manager to help the other authorities understand how to respond well whenever a crisis hits. The use of social media tools is very critical in this phase than in the other phases, and engages the community networks in order to effectively gather, analyse and even disseminate the same information within a timely manner. On the other hand, the recovery phase requires the manager to come up with long-term planning and support activities that can help restore the initial situation within the society. Social media tools can be used in all the three stages for purposes of disseminating information, planning and training team members on how to respond to disasters, solving problems and making decisions collaboratively as well as gathering of information (Hurk, 2013, p. 57). The dissemination of information through social media tools is considered to be effective means for one to provide a reliable set of information to the crisis managers. The same information is passed to the publicly as quickly as possible to help them prepare for the looming crisis and respond to it effectively. But, the effectiveness of disseminating such critical information through the social media depends on the reach and the ability of the platform to penetrate the technological boundaries. For instance, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has various multimedia platforms like the IRIN news service and the ReliefWeb which are designed to provide people with a detailed analysis of interpretations made from crisis whistle-blowers (Bruce, 2014, p. 26). Thus, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has the capability to provide early warnings to the public and encourage rapid responses in the event of complex humanitarian emergencies that are basically based on the information gathered. Social media receives a lot of gamification for leveraging the process involved in the planning and training of relevant personnel (Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011, p. 96). It also enhances collaboration and scenario planning activities experienced between different management agencies. These agencies could be from the civil society organizations, private, or the public sector. The use of gamification techniques has the ability to enhance the current practices involved in the management of crises. Such mechanisms are possible through the use of sustained training and collaboration of the stakeholders. A good example of disaster planning and training can be seen with the measures put in place by the World Bank together with the Kenyan Red Cross team (Turan & Ramos, 2009, p. 75). The two have brought together a reliable team of relief experts as well as software engineers who work on identifying the major challenges affecting the people, and develop possible solutions on how to overcome the scenarios. Crisis managers also use the social media platform to facilitate collaborative decision-making and problem-solving activities through the integration of various streams of information from different forms of technologies (Nikoi & Boateng, 2014, p. 97). These activities are possible through crowdsourcing initiatives that are conducted through web-based and mobile technologies that are used to fill the information gaps existing between the people and the government bodies concerned with resolving the crisis. The collaborative efforts of the social media users and the crisis managers can enhance the process of aggregating, analysing, and even plotting useful data on the basic humanitarian needs. The growth of the knowledgebase on the possibility of a crisis to occur allows the authorities to enjoy a better position in managing as well as responding to a wide range of crisis-related situations that are likely to occur with time. A good illustration of the influence of social media in enhancing collaborative ideas in the decision-making and problem-solving process include the United States Institute of Peace responders (Robertson & Olson, 2013, p. 18). They are tasked with collecting information that is used to improve the awareness of different situations surrounding the people. With such information, people can make more informed choices regarding the allocation of resources that are majorly based on the emerging trends. Social media is also useful in the information gathering process in order to create awareness in the foreseeable cases of crises. The information gathering process is enhanced through the on-the-scene footage, activities closely related to assessment of disasters, as well as citizen journalism. These activities are useful for collecting information that useful for coordinating the effective response strategies to crisis situations. One good example of how social media is used in the gathering of information is in the use of Al Jazeera as a community platform (Abdelmoula, 2015, p. 110). Al Jazeera has the capability to leverage on smartphone applications, email services, and mobile text messages. Thus, it allows the members of the public to speak out their concerns, thoughts, and even perceptions concerning the perceived threats that could develop into a crisis. There are various government agencies and international organizations that have utilized the social media to enhance their capability to manage cases of the crisis affecting them. For instance, the Dutch government uses www.crisis.nl as a reliable platform to disseminate public information whenever the country is faced with a crisis that needs emergency attention. To sum it up, there is a downloadable software referred to as Ushahidi that enables people to record and submit reliable eyewitness reports whenever a disaster strikes. An additional map-based application based on the web is referred to asSensePlace 2(Büscher, et al., 2010, p. 201). It has the ability to integrate different sources of text such as blog posts, news, and even RSS feeds that can eventually be translated onto a map and crisis managers allowed to filter through by urgency and respond effectively. Through these applications, it is easier for security government bodies to analyse the changing perspectives and issues that affect the society in terms of crisis management. Conclusion In order to effectively harness the capabilities that social media has on the process of determining and resolving the crisis, it is important for concerned parties to develop a reliable framework that fosters a coordinated and systematic approach. The framework can possibly comprise of elements such as the general mandate used in managing issues related to the crisis, strategic guidelines, capability development, and measurement activities. It would be essential for crisis management team to consider a critical switch in using social media in integrating information rather than spending a fortune on traditional media such as radio, television, and print. It is also critical to consider how the different social media platforms can be integrated into a reliable crisis management platform. Everyone is using their cell phones to go online and communicate whatever information they might find useful to the community. Leveraging the benefits that come with the use of social media technologies allows the citizens to prepare effectively for foreseeable crises. The social norm is possibly the easiest mechanism to entice the people to take necessary actions and even help others in times of crisis. [Word Count = 4,759 words] Bibliography Abdelmoula, E., 2015. Al Jazeera and Democratization: The Rise of the Arab Public Sphere. New York: Routledge. Benson, V. & Morgan, S. J., 2014. 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