Influence of Social Media in Emergency Management - Research Paper Example

Importance and Influence of Social Media in Emergency Management Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 5 Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness 7 Understanding the Social Media Landscape 8 Exploiting Social Media to Enhance Emergency Management Abilities 10 Application of Social Media Tools across Crisis Management Stages 10 Framework to Enhance Social Media Capabilities for Emergency Management 13 Strategic Guidelines 13 Conclusion 13 Appendices 16 Importance and Influence of Social Media in Emergency Management Executive Summary In the recent past, social media has emerged as a group of online communication where individuals develop content and share it widely at an exceptional rate. The five key traits of social media: collectivity, connectedness; entirety; precision; and cooperation present itself to be utilized often in a bid to promote crisis management functions. This research paper looks at the several groupings of social media tools to comprehend how they can be used to augment and enable systematic and reaction capacities of organizations for crisis management. This paper will begin by examining the importance of emergency management and disaster preparedness during disasters. This will also involve a discussion on the major challenges facing disaster management and how the social media can be used to defray these challenges. The paper will concentrate on information sharing, disaster preparation and decision-making as well as information collection. These four social media functions will then be mapped on to three crisis management phases of awareness, reaction, and recovery to outline how a variety of social media tools may be utilized to improve crisis communications. The paper will also share several cases of global organizations and governments that use social media for crisis management. The research paper proposes a model to improve government utilization of social media for crisis management that includes the necessity for a mandate, distinct guidelines and several key capabilities that need to be developed. The proposed tools will help governments and organizations in emergency management and disaster preparedness. Introduction According to Sturges (2004) crisis management is an important organizational function that deals with planning and dynamic occurrence reaction to situations as they take place, usually in unpredictable ways. The flowing effects of a happening crisis can thrash a country’s or an organization’s capability to function effectively and may bring about serious harm to its citizens, institutions, assets, and repute. The emergence of an array of social media tools has transformed the landscape of crisis management significantly over the last few years with promises for social action now becoming certainties. With the availability of various software tools such as online discussion forums and news aggregators, organizations are now able to distribute, attain, and scrutinize information in a more efficient manner and expansively. While social media has the capability to bar a crisis from getting out of control, organizations can wish away its ability to exacerbate an unfolding crisis situation. A case in point is the UK riots that occurred in mid-2011. The issue of how a small protest against visible police brutality in Tottenham could trigger riots and destruction further afield as Huddersfrield has called for the examination of interlinked issues of how social media has impacted the US riots. Social media’s importance as a catalyst is unquestionable as numerous accounts point to the manner in which rioters used social media to communicate and strategize. Rioters would communicate about areas that were not manned by the police and would move to that area instantly. The pace and effect of the social media at first inundated the authorities (Cheung, 2011). While social media can influence politics, social movements and the dissemination of information, the technology alone cannot be held responsible for sparking the insurgency. Without a doubt, social media is a tool and the same tool that can bring about a harmful effect, can also bring about positive results by aiding and quickening the speed and extent of communication, if they are properly used (Augustine, 2005). This research paper looks the utilization social media tools by Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in relation to crisis preparedness, crisis response and crisis recovery and outlines some of the major considerations for social media to be utilized efficiently during the crisis response stage. It includes lessons and procedures that can be used to enhance the government emergency management capabilities through the application of social media. The Paper is divided in to five major sections; Section 1 highlights the problems encountered by governments and organizations in handling emergencies. Section 2maps out the contemporary social media landscape, pinpoints the constantly transforming application of social media tools and how these tools can be utilized to enhance crisis management capabilities. Section 3 discusses the various social media roles involved during crisis management. It stresses on the crisis response stage to bring out the need for social media monitoring and engagement as a foundation for efficient crisis response. Section 4 discusses how governments can more systematically handle emergencies through the acquisition of a coordinated framework using social media to develop trusted networks. Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness During emergencies, there is a vital time constriction on evacuating the affected individuals, tracing and delivering the available materials, as well as coming up with the needed information and passing it on to the proper parties in a well-timed way. Having relevant data is important to developing meaningful decisions on where to place attention and where to supply the limited resources. However, how to get consistent, precise, and timely data is always is mostly a challenge especially in conditions where disasters happen in a quick manner. It is rather difficult for governmental agencies to deploy an adequate number of trained personnel for the purposes of mapping and gathering data. Wherever a disaster takes place, professional emergency are quickly beleaguered and the rare emergency services may rapidly diminish. Wherever disasters happen, it is critical to always accurate, timely and reliable information regarding the exact conditions on the ground. In most cases, wherever this does not happen, response efforts are often hampered (Benoit, 2007). Another major problem in handling emergencies and preparing for disasters is information sharing and communication in order to assist organization. There is need for sharing information in an appropriate manner and promptly between all the participants at the suitable place and time. Professional disaster staff may have a special emergency management system to aid them in communicating among each other as well as between departments at the national, regional, and local levels. Efficient communication is also critical between crisis managers and locals for the carrying out of evacuation plans, and between residents to aid each other to evade risks in a self-organized way. On top of this, information updates are also critical for locals for emotional purposes. If there is no current information regarding the disaster as well as the status of those affected or their friends, they may be an aggravation of negative emotions such as panic, tension and nervousness, which may finally lead to mass panic. At the present, the existing communication channels that have been set up are not sufficient in addressing major disasters. In the past, the lack of a sufficient and efficient communication system to inform and guide the public has been noted as one of the things that have hampered response and recovery during past crisis (Barton, 2001). Understanding the Social Media Landscape The medium is not at all times the message. A social media where purpose and content is lacking would do very little to make people prepare, respond, and recover when a disaster strikes. Generally speaking, social media can be delineated as type of emerging media that makes it for social interaction and communication by way of social interaction and communicate through the utilization of online internet-based platforms (Cole, 2009). Within this wide description, social media tools can be grouped into the following; (i) Social networks and blogs: Social networking sites are used to define sites that make it possible for people to develop their individual pages to make it possible to share content and communicate with other individuals. An example of this is Facebook. On their part, blogs are Internet journals or discussion sites that are used to send content and related updates (ii) Bookmarking Sites: This denotes websites that help individuals to store, categorize, share and look up link through the help of folksonomy1 techniques that are available over the internet. When individuals share any content on such websites, it becomes easier for the shared content to be available across a broad spectrum. (iii) Social reviews: This denotes websites that give individuals an opportunity to search, review and disseminate information as well as offer recommendations. Through utilizing social reviews, individuals are able to vote on content on the basis of individual interest, proclivities and alleged significance (Cole, 2009). Unlike conventional types of media, which are basically limited in the scope of their reach and confined to the place of action, social media tools are capable of overcoming these confines because of some characteristics that set them apart from the traditional media; Collectivity. The collective nature of social media acts to bring people together across expansive geographical precincts and time zones through universal platforms, to encourage the development of online communities that bear identical interests. Connectivity. Unlike the conventional forms of media or interactions, social media has the ability to link users to diverse resources via the sharing of web links; Completeness. Social media has an ability to capture contributions and store them in a persistent manner for other individuals to see them and share; Clarity; all the content on social media websites in usually highly conspicuous, with those taking part in the deliberations being conscious of each others actions as well as the content posted.; Collaboration; people are persuaded to share and contribute in areas where they have an interest, by collecting information and offering response. Exploiting Social Media to Enhance Emergency Management Abilities Emergencies are intricate in nature, have inconsistent outcomes and can move at different paces. By exploiting the traits of the social media tools, organizational capacity to show buoyancy in reaction to emergencies can be significantly augmented by developing new channels for collaboration to aid in creating more communities that are resilient over time. For example, when an emergency sets in, crisis managers and responders can retrieve the information gotten from networks and blogs to aid in establishing the source and extent of the emergency and pass across a consistent message to those who have been affected. As search links and other significant resources are tagged and reviewed founded on recommendations by individuals on other sites, crisis managers are well placed to search and collect information, and react to on-going developments as they spread (Coombs, 2007). Social media tools can also be utilized in bettering the capability of a community in expecting and readying for an emergency. For example, it is possible to initiate projects on various social media platforms to enrich interested societies with a wide database of content to review and authenticate information that could enable intervention opportunities during an emergency. Crisis managers are also able to review online content to see the reactions of people and to determine the areas where they need to improve. Application of Social Media Tools across Crisis Management Stages Emergency management can be widely divided in to three stages; emergency preparedness, emergency response, and emergency recovery. During the crisis preparedness stage, the spotlight is on precautionary activities that are intent on reducing the known risks that could bring about a risk. Recognizing that not all crises can be prevented, there would be an equivalent spotlight in this stage on emergency management planning and training of the crisis management team. On the other hand, during crisis response, the spotlight is usually on the pace and efficiency of the initial response. There will be a need for rapid awareness of the situation to help authorities to respond in an effective manner after an emergency has been declared (Coombs, 2004). During this stage, the effective use of social media tools is crucial in order to keep the community networks engaged in order to collect, examine, and share information in a judicious way. While the propinquity of response has elapsed, the crisis recovery stage calls for longer term planning and support to bring the situation back to normal. Across these three phases, social media tools can be utilized for information sharing, disaster planning and sharing, shared problem sharing and decision making, and information collecting (Fearn-Banks, 2011). Figure 1. Social Media Functions for Crisis Management (Weick, & Sutcliffe, 2011) a) Information distribution. Information distribution through social media is a potent means to offer dependable information to the public in a quick manner to enable them to be well prepared for and react to emergencies. However, the efficiency is reliant on the spread and saturation of social media platforms across technological expertise, education levels, language and culture. b) Disaster planning and training. Ideally, there are many avenues where social media can be used for disaster planning and training to enhance personnel training and situation planning and association between several crisis management agencies. These agencies, in essence, range from the communal sector, private sector, and civil society agencies. c) Collaborative problem solving and decision making. There are social media tools that incorporate shared problem solving and decision making by interlinking several avenues of information derived from mobile and web-based technologies to fill the seeming sense-making and information loopholes. This is also done to collect, examine, and plot data on pressing charitable needs. As the knowledge base keeps on widening, authorities become better placed to handle and react to a variety of possible emergency-related cases. d) Information gathering. On-the-scene reporting, public journalism and disaster management and critical to information collection for coordinating emergency response. Several global organizations and government institutions have utilized media platforms and technologies to better their competencies in emergency management. A good example of this is the New York City’s Office of Emergency Management, which uses Sahana to run its all risks sheltering plan. This plan brings together close to 600 shelters that have a capability of providing refuge for close to 80,000 individuals during an emergency. This resembles the Dutch government, which deals with the www.crisis.nl as a principal point for transmitting public information in the event of a crisis. Another social media tool, ushahidi, software that can be downloaded makes it possible for individuals to pass on eyewitness reports during an emergency. The eye witness accounts are then on to a map for the authorities and responders to analyze. This software was greatly helpful in the Haiti earthquake in 2010 where it was used to crowdsoure information from people on the ground to help relief efforts that were being conducted by various international agencies. Another social media tool, SensePlace 2 brings together compound text sources that can then be converted in to a map to make it possible for emergency responders to quickly sift through by place or time, to examine transforming issues and viewpoints (Coombs, 2004). Framework to Enhance Social Media Capabilities for Emergency Management To enable the development of capabilities in harnessing social media for crisis management, a structure to advance a more systematic and coordinated approach is briefly discussed below. The framework has the following basics; General mandate for managing emergencies using social media. Acquiring the senior management recognition on the value of exploiting social media tools as a harmonizing approach to Whole-of Government (WOG) emergency management is critical to send a well built and constant message to bodies involved in emergency related duties (Flynn, & Bates, 2011). Strategic Guidelines Putting in place clear and steady guidelines for officials on the utilization of social media tools for the purposes of emergency management is crucial. In essence, a diverse and more speedy procedure is necessary in ensuring that information gets shared on social media in a timely manner either for support or to get important intelligence. However, since social media is one among the many avenues that might e used in a crisis and do not in any likelihood take the place of the already existent channels of communication; such practice sand procedures need to be synchronized (Flynn, & Bates, 2011). Conclusion With increasingly more individuals using their mobile handsets to visit the Internet going beyond the time that is spend on conventional media such as television, radio and newspapers, it would be important to carefully examine how social media innovations can be added into an interlinked emergency management platform for efficient crisis management. Leveraging social media technologies for the purposes of crisis management offers people in the society a digger role in planning for and managing emergencies which in turns helps in developing resilient communities. Adopting flexibility as a civic value and a social norm should definitely be adopted to motivate citizens to take the required actions to help themselves and others during emergency periods. For this to be possible, there is need for the adoption of best practices methods by the government and other organization that are tasked with crisis response as this will trickle down to the public. References Augustine, N. (2005 November/December). Managing the crisis you tried to prevent. Harvard Business Review, 73(6), 147-158. Barton, L. (2001). Crisis in Organizations. Cincinnati, OH: College Divisions South-Western. Benoit, W. L. (2007). Image repair discourse and crisis communication. Public Relations Review, 23(2), 177-180. Cheung, V. (2011). The Power of Social Networking Sites, CNET Asia. Retrieved from http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/hktechphooey/post.htm?id=63001502 Cole, R. (2009). Social Media: What Does it Mean for Public Managers?, Public Management. 8-12. Coombs, W. T. (2004). Impact of past crises on current crisis communications: Insights from situational crisis communication theory. Journal of Business Communication, 41, 265-289. Coombs, W. (2007). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, Managing, and responding. Los Angeles: Sage. Fearn-Banks, K. (2011). Crisis communications: A Casebook Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Flynn, S. & Bates, S. (2011). Connecting America: Building Resilience with Social Media. New York: Harper Sturges, D. (2004). Communicating through crisis: A strategy for organizational survival, Management Communication Quarterly, 7, 297-316. Weick, K., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2011). Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity. Thousand Oaks: Sage Appendices Figure 1: Social Media Functions for Crisis Management (Weick, & Sutcliffe, 2011). Read More