How Do We Use Social Media In a Disaster?

Written by Jeff Bullas - View Comments
Categories: Social Media


The role of social media in spreading the latest breaking news about an emerging disaster or crisis is well documented. We have seen it with the plane crash in the Hudson river in New York where the news was broken on Twitter via an iPhone and also the monitoring, reporting and updating of the civil rights abuses when the Iranian elections were being held.How Do We Use Social Media In a Disaster or Emergency Ask The Red Cross

The Red Cross recently conducted an online survey to assess the role and importance of the use of social media in disasters and emergencies and here are some of their findings.

The first part of the survey established the general level of use of social media in the community

  • Nearly 3 in 4 participate in at least one online community or social network.
  • Respondents with children in the household are more likely to use social media (81 percent vs. 67 percent for those without children in the household).
  • College graduates are more likely to use social media (78 percent vs. 67 percent for those with some college or less).
  • 89% of respondents aged 18‐34 use online communities or social networks compared to 65% of those aged 35 and older.
  • The majority (82 percent) participates in social media at least once a week, with nearly half participating every day or nearly every day

Red Cross Use of Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies

The second part was the potential use of social media in reporting disasters whether human or natural.

  • One in six (16%) have used social media to get information about an emergency
  • About half of respondents would sign up for emails, text alerts, or applications to receive any of the emergency information.
  • About half of respondents would mention any of the emergencies or events on their social media channels.
  • Facebook was the most commonly used channel for posting eyewitness information on an emergency or newsworthy event at 75% followed by blogs at 22% and Twitter 21%
  • During an emergency, nearly half would use social media to let loved ones know they are safe.
  • The vast majority would use Facebook to post information about their safety.
  • More than two-thirds agree that response agencies should regularly monitor and respond to postings on their websites.
  • Younger respondents (18-34) make more use of social media with 33% using social media to get news about an emergency compared to only 9% of those aged 35 and above
  • Younger people are more likely to request help through social media or text messaging
  • Younger respondents expect a faster response from social media requests for help

Now this where it gets interesting

In the survey three out of four would expect help to arrive within an hour which I think shows either a high level of trust in our emergency agencies or is it just a slight sign of developed world impatience.

How have you used social media during a disaster or emergency?



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  • http://www.businessesgrow.com Mark W Schaefer

    I recently ran a guest post on my blog from a woman who was trapped in the Nashville Flood, a major natural disaster here in the U.S. During the emergency, the government locked into the well-tested communicaiton channels — radio and TV. Only problem there was no power in the city. So basically the emergency repsonse was almost entirely run on Twitter for a few days. All the survey go out the door if this is the only communication channel available to you!

    Thanks, Jeff.

  • http://www.theprcoach.com The PR Coach

    It’s a very revealing study. Thanks for sharing your analysis Jeff. Of course, without planning in advance and knowing how to use the tools, many will be at the mercy of any given crisis. Lesson: be prepared.

  • http://entrepreneurshop.wordpress.com/ Michael Pearson

    Social media can be either really negative or really positive. Thanks for sharing!

  • http://deerhornvalley.net Kim Hamilton

    We live in a wildfire area that was devastated in 2007. At that time we were under mandatory evacuation, with most of us in shelters or with friends or relatives. For a week we had no information about our homes, or neighbors who had not evacuated when we did.

    Social media may prove to be the best thing we could have available in the next emergency. During fires the first thing lost is power and phones, so reverse 911 is disabled. Cell phone reception is sporadic given our mountainous terrain. Smart phones with internet connection are the most reliable for communication.

    Sadly, our emergency organizations aren’t using the technology there. We had a major fire two days ago, and the Twitter and FB pages were missing in action, with out-of-date postings. Effort has to be made to have a system in place for updating information (fire spread, direction, smoke, etc.) Organizations are jumping on the social media bandwagon, but few know how to use it. One bright exception is the Lakeside Fire Protection District. They have a blog, FB, and Twitter, and use it extensively in emergencies: http://lakesidefiredist.blogspot.com/ An exemplary job that needs to be replicated.

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  • http://www.smallplanetnews.com Becca King Reed

    Jeff, Thanks for this post. I had been wondering how much Social Media had come into play during emergencies.

    After the earthquake in Chili, I Got a tweet (in my feed) from a reporter who was trapped in his home. His land-line wasn’t working but internet was. I (and surely many others) contacted the Red Cross with his location. Later that afternoon, he sent another tweet saying he had been rescued and thanking his Twitter friends.

    This is just one example of how social media can be effective in a disaster. I’m sure we’ll be hearing many more in the future.

  • http://www.studentlifeguru.com Scott M. Helfrich

    Colleges and universities across the U.S. have really started to implement social media notifications in their emergency plans since the Virginia Tech tragedy. At the university I currently serve, we had a major snowstorm in February 2010 that caused major power outages in the region and the university closed for a week. My staff and I used Facebook, the university website, and the emergency text notification system to let our students know about the status of power in their upper campus apartments and instructions for obtaining alternative housing, food, and status of university classes and services.

  • http://www.myshoppinggenie.com/pstd Lisa Ann Landry

    I haven’t had a disaster or emergency situation in which I could use Social Media. However, when traveling for speaking engagements especially with others and we are not on the same flight I use it to communicate delays, where to meet, get gps direction to hotels & conference centers etc.

    Lisa Ann Landry
    Vibrating enthusiasm, humor & positive energy….
    http://www.imagedevelopmentgroup.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/#!/MintToBeUK Caroline

    Air NZ have set up an excellent Facebook support page after the recent Christchurch, NZ quake. It’s really played a key role and have helped link up victims to support from flights, to accommodation to rides from A to B for people who are stuck. I really hope that a similar set up will help the people of Japan and their loved ones around the world.

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Air-New-Zealand-Christchurch-Quake-Support/180502865326580

    Caroline @mint_to_be

  • http://underlooked.net Guillaume Andria

    I was in Japan during the March ’11 tsunami.
    Social networks was definitely the way to go. With no signal, the only way to reach people was the Internet. The word spread really fast on Facebook and it let people contact everyone needed. That was really impressive.

  • LT Public Relations

    Always a timely topic, Jeff.  LT Public Relations and Mambo media offers its Crisis Ready (www.crisis-ready.com) program to help businesses safeguard themselves BEFORE a crisis occurs–by ensuring their entire staff, executives, constituents, customers and social media followers are prepared.  It’s often too late when a crisis occurs.

    We say crisis management is 99% preparation…1% execution.  Is your business prepared?

  • http://twitter.com/commtracker CommunicationTracker

    Twitter was very effectively used at the time of Bombay Bomb blasts by a lot of people. Here is a blog article detailing it out: http://blog.communication-tracker.com/social-collaboration-helps-us-deal-with-extraordinary-situations.html

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