Crisis responseHow social media is energizing crisis response

Published 29 November 2016

Natural disasters, such as the recent Hurricane Matthew in the Caribbean, present a huge challenge for governments, non-governmental organizations, and of course the individuals and communities affected. But studies of the effectiveness or otherwise of the responses to these disasters typically focus on official activities, producing a top-down view of what unfolded. Researchers studying the 2011 Thailand flooding disaster – the world’s fourth most severe natural disaster at that time instead looked at how individuals on the ground used social media to share information and offer support, often in areas where the official response was lacking or ineffective.

Natural disasters, such as the recent Hurricane Matthew in the Caribbean, present a huge challenge for governments, non-governmental organizations, and of course the individuals and communities affected.

But studies of the effectiveness or otherwise of the responses to these disasters typically focus on official activities, producing a top-down view of what unfolded.

Carmen Leong, a lecturer in the school of information systems and technology management at UNSW Business School, along with her colleagues, has taken a different approach, in an in-depth case study on the 2011 Thailand flooding disaster – the world’s fourth most severe natural disaster at that time.

UNSW says that the researchers looked at how individuals on the ground used social media to share information and offer support, often in areas where the official response was lacking or ineffective.

“We explore the role of social media in facilitating community involvement, which we have observed in recent crises,” says Leong. “We adopt empowerment as our theoretical lens.”

As soon as the flood subsided in early 2012, the researchers collected archival data in social media by screening for community-created content on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Then in March 2013, the researchers visited Thailand and interviewed 56 subjects from different community groups, including victims, civil volunteers, flood-related professionals, non-profit organizations, university students, community leaders, emergent groups and government agencies.

Collective strength
With Shan-Ling Pan, a professor at UNSW Business School, and Peter Ractham and Laddawan Kaewkitipong from Thailand’s Thammasat University, Leong discovered more than fifty Facebook groups were formed during the crisis, updating information such as water levels in different areas, mobilising volunteers and coordinating the flow of donations. 

One example was Nam Kuen Hai Reeb Bok (“When water rises, quickly tell”), created by a 23-year-old girl to provide a space for ordinary people to share information about the flood situation. In two weeks, the page’s number of “likes” surged to 200,000. 

In another example, the Twitter account (@thaiflood) of volunteer-run website Thaiflood.com gathered more than 100,000 followers during the flooding, which was 10-times higher than the number of followers of the government-run equivalent. 

The researchers also found that experts with professional knowledge – such as engineers and environmentalists – were using social media to share their knowledge with the public.