DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Emergency-response organization utilization of social media during a disaster: A case study of the 2013 Seoul floods

  • Kim, Ji Won (School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin) ;
  • Kim, Yonghee (Graduate School of Governance, Sungkyunkwan University) ;
  • Suran, Melissa (School of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin)
  • Published : 2015.10.31

Abstract

A growing number of studies have examined the relevance and impact of social media in building organizational resilience, which the ability to recover from a crisis, in the field of emergency management. However, few studies have assessed how these emergency response organizations perceive their own use of social media in crisis situations. In attempting to fill this gap, this study conducted a structured survey with emergency-response organization representatives in Seoul, South Korea, to examine how such organizations evaluate their utilization of social media in an urban emergency situation and how their social media uses are related to promoting organizational resilience during adverse events such as a flood. Overall, the findings imply that organizations are not yet taking full advantage of social media. Respondent evaluations of their own social media use in all three assessment areas-information provision, information dissemination, and emotional messages-were not satisfactory. However, their perceptions of how well they utilize social media were positively related to how they view their organizational resilience. Therefore, it may be that these organizations realize the powerful role of social media in building organizational resilience but lack the knowledge and experience to make the best use of social media services.

Keywords

References

  1. American Red Cross 2011, 'Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies', www.redcross.org/www-files/Documents/pdf/SocialMediainDisasters.pdf.
  2. Harman, W. (2011, August 24). How do you use social media in emergencies? [Web log mes-sage]. Retrieved from http://redcrosschat.org/2011/08/24/how-do-you-use-socialmedia-in-emergencies/
  3. Constantinides, E., & Fountain, S. (2008). Web 2.0: Conceptual foundations and marketing is-sues. Journal of Direct, Data, and Digital Marketing Practice, 9, 231-244. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.dddmp.4350098
  4. Cho, S. E., & Park, H. W. (2013). Social media use during Japan's 2011 earthquake: how twitter transforms the locus of crisis communication. Media International Australia (8/1/07-current), (149).
  5. Hale, J. (1997). A layered communication architecture for the support of crisis response. Journal of Management Information Systems, 14(1), 235-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.1997.11518160
  6. Hermida, A. (2010). From TV to Twitter: How ambient news became ambient journalism. M/c journal, 13(2). www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/220.
  7. Hughes, A. L., Palen, L., Sutton, J., Liu, S. B., & Vieweg, S. (2008). Sight-Seeing in Disaster: An Examination of On-Line Social Convergence. In Proceedings of the Information Sys-tems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM).
  8. Lindell, M. K., Tierney, K. J., & Perry, R. W. (2001). Facing the Unexpected:: Disaster Prepar-edness and Response in the United States. Joseph Henry Press.
  9. Lindsay, B. R. (2011). Social media and disasters: current uses, future options, and policy con-siderations. Congressional Research Services Report, 7-5700.
  10. Liu, S. B., Iacucci, A. A., & Meier, P. (2010). Ushahidi Haiti and Chile: next generation crisis mapping. ACSM Bulletin, 246.
  11. Liu, H. (2012). Expanding public participation in crisis management via smart mobile technolo-gy, Korea Institute of Public Administration, 31.
  12. Majchrzak, A., Jarvenpaa, S., & Hollingshead, A. (2007). Coordinating expertise among emer-gent groups responding to disasters. Organization Science, 18(1), 147-161 https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1060.0228
  13. Makinen, M., & Kuira, M. W. (2008). Social media and postelection crisis in Kenya. The Inter-national Journal of Press/Politics, 13(3), 328-335. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161208319409
  14. Palen, L., Vieweg, S., Liu, S. B., & Hughes, A. L. (2009). Crisis in a networked world features of computer-mediated communication in the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech Event. Social Sci-ence Computer Review, 27(4), 467-480. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439309332302
  15. Park, J., Choi H., Park S. (2011). Social Media's Impact on Policy Making. SERI Quarterly, 4(4).
  16. Silverman, M. (2010, February 27). Twitter helps find missing family member after Chile earth-quake. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/02/27/twitter-missing-personchile/
  17. Smith, A. (2010, December 09). Who tweets?. Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1821/twitter-users-profile-exclusive-examination.
  18. Sorenson, J. H. & Sorenson, B. V (2006). Community Processes: Warning and Evacuation. In H. Rodriguez, E. L. Quarantelli & R. R. Dynes (Eds.) Handbook of Disaster Research, 183-199. New York: Springer.
  19. Sutton, J., Palen, L., & Shklovski, I. (2008, May). Backchannels on the front lines: Emergent us-es of social media in the 2007 southern California wildfires. In Proceedings of the 5th Inter-national ISCRAM Conference (pp. 624-632). Washington, DC.
  20. Taylor, M., Wells, G., Howell, G., & Raphael, B. (2012). The role of social media as psychologi-cal first aid as a support to community resilience building. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 27(1), 20-26.
  21. Ungerleider, N. 2011, 'Text Messages Aren't Enough When Natural Disasters Strike', Fastcom-pany, www.fastcompany.com/1775828/why-text-messages-arent-enough-when-disaster-strikes.
  22. Veil, S. R., Buehner, T., & Palenchar, M. J. (2011). A Work-In-Process Literature Review: In-corporating Social Media in Risk and Crisis Communication. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 19(2), 110-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.2011.00639.x
  23. White, C. (2011). Social Media, Crisis Communication and Emergency Management: Leverag-ing Web 2.0 Technologies. CRC PressI Llc.
  24. Yates, D., & Paquette, S. (2011). Emergency knowledge management and social media technol-ogies: A case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. International Journal of Information Management, 31(1), 6-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.10.001

Cited by

  1. Social media, trust, and disaster: Does trust in public and nonprofit organizations explain social media use during a disaster? pp.1573-7845, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0594-4
  2. Does having a strong commitment matter in building sustainable networks? pp.1573-7845, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0583-7
  3. Unveiling cultures in emergency response communication networks on social media: following the 2016 Louisiana floods pp.1573-7845, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0595-3
  4. Big data analysis of local government 3.0: Focusing on Gyeongsangbuk-do in Korea vol.110, pp.None, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2015.11.007
  5. Development and Embodiment of Automatic Location Tracing Service for Rescue Requester vol.8, pp.1, 2015, https://doi.org/10.33851/jmis.2021.8.1.11