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An essay about social media and disaster response
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Over the years the world has experienced quite a few disasters. Some were natural while others where terrorist acts. Hurricane Katrina, 911 Twin Towers, Olympic Bombing, Tsunami in Indonesia, earthquakes, is just a few to mention. Social Media plays a big part in the influence on Emergency and disaster management. In this paper I will explore a few different disasters and how social media assisted or hindered in the aid of getting out facts about the disaster. A natural disaster is caused by Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Tornados, Volcanic Eruption, landslide or heat waves. A natural disaster can lead to environmental, financial, economical, or human loses. Natural disasters are very dangerous and frightening because they come without warning, leaving no time for preparation. Communication between family, friends, and the community is essential when experiencing a natural disaster. Everyone will be looking for information about food, shelter, and transportation. This is where social media plays a significant role, by allowing people get information, share information, and ask for help. Social media is also vital to recovery efforts after a disaster. Social media will allow people that are recovering from a disaster to quickly connect with needed resources. Social media will also enrich community connection and envelopment before a projected natural disaster, by sending out early evacuation information, or protection information. Social media has become a reliable medium beforehand, throughout a disaster, and after a disaster. As the years go by with increasing technology the role of social media throughout a natural disaster has increased. As the usage of social media remains to show improvements during natural disasters emergency ma... ... middle of paper ... ... media being a big help. Social media has made big changes in today’s world of communication. Things like text messaging, internet, and social sites makes it a great way to communicate with large numbers of people anywhere in the world. It’s an efficient way to stay in contact and get the information you need, especially in a time of crisis. Over the years the internet and social media has evolved and become an essential part of communication. When thousands are displaced from their homes or have to flee from a disaster zone, so many people turn to social networking sites to find friends and share stories and photos especially when phone lines are down. Social Media should not override current approaches to disaster management communication or replace and current policies in effect. However; if it’s manage correctly it can add positive potential to current systems.
She claims that only one of her friends called to check on her during the first morning of the flood. This must be quite a disappointing occurrence, in addition to the reaction of her family, stating that they knew about the floods, however, did not realize that she was affected (Knufken 510-512). In her conclusion, Knufken’s tone of disappointment continues as she examines human’s reactions to disasters becoming passive and disconnected. According to Drea Knufken, “I’d like to think that in our networked world, it’s easy to comprehend how the things we read about in the news or on social media might be impacting friends and loved ones. It seems, however, that we’re so drowned in data that we’ve become comfortably numb” (510-512).
A strategic alliance with Dell has allowed ARC to implement a digital operations center for humanitarian relief in 2011 (ARC, n.d.). Social media (Facebook and Twitter) and smartphone applications have also been added to the organization’s communication arsenal as social media (Facebook and Twitter) and smartphone applications communication tools for advance storm tracking, crisis area developments and real time communications between ground crews and decision making management personnel (Zolkos, 2012).
A natural disaster is defined as any event or force of nature that has catastrophic consequences. It destroys everything in its path and has no mercy for anything. It kills anything in its way and does not care about what people think. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey were both devastating storms giving some people the ultimate consequence. It made people value what they had when they had it. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey were not only devastating storms but they were also life changers to every living thing in the areas it effected.
ComEd appears to have thoroughly analyzed social media best practices before it embarked on its own social media program. However, it decided to place the responsibility for social media within its own customer operations rather than in its communications or marketing department. Was this is a good decision- why or why not?
Social media can help families that has members overseas that are deployed, those who lives in distant countries, and those who are in Mr. Rogers words “helpers”. There was someone who had hearing lost that lost her job and had to use the money that she was saving to get a hearing aid. She was so frustrated she went online to talk about it. A kind person reading about her frustrations bought the poor woman the hearing aid that she needed. Social media helped them to communicate to this day because if it wasn’t for that she wouldn’t have gotten her hearing aid and wouldn’t of meet the nice person at all (Hootsuite, 2013). Media can also help military personal to communicate to their loved ones easier when they don’t have access to a phone. When my dad was deployed, we used Skype to talk to each other. It seemed like it was easier through Skype because there were times that he couldn’t use a phone
Technology today is more relied upon than ever before. If one needs to call someone half way around the world, simply take out a cell phone and dial their number. Within thirty seconds, one can be speaking to that person just as if two people were conversing face-to-face. In the same manner, one has access to endless knowledge and resources by the push of a few buttons or the click of a mouse. The use of social media today is becoming more prevalent than ever before because of the convenience it offers.
Social media has changed the way people communicate with each other and in turn, has affected our ability to empathize in both negative and positive ways. One of the most harmful consequences is the rise of cyber-bullying. Another negative issue has been the trend of trolling in comments sections of websites, chat rooms, and other online venues of communication. In spite of this, there have been constructive consequences due to social media such as the ability for family and friends to keep in touch on a regular basis. Because of social media, many people are finding support and resources to help them when they fall on hard times or experience tragedies like death and illness. Overall, social media is an exciting new world that changes as it grows and it will be up to society to utilize it for good.
Social media allowed empathy to feelings of sadness and sympathy and gave many users the opportunity to add to trending topics of conversations through hashtags like #PeaceForParis and others mentioned before. Facebook turned on its ‘safety check’ feature to allow people in the affected areas alert their family and friends that they are safe. It also created a French flag photo filter for people to display as a show of support, but received backlash for being selective or just for the sake of being in the
Social media sites including Twitter and Facebook are in their infancy yet play an increasingly important role in the response to a disaster. After all, “one of the basic tenants of emergency management is mass communication and being able to deliver pertinent information to those who need it” (Gould, 2012). Social media offers an avenue to obtain up to the minute information on a given situation right in an individual's hands thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices. “Each disaster sparks its own complex web of fast-paced information exchange. It can both improve disaster response and allow affected populations to take control of their situation as well as feel empowered” (Maron, 2013). While traditional forms of media, print, radio and television in particular, have been the standard since the inception of the emerg...
Social media is the fruit of the current Web 2.0 technology. It is a series of organized applications which need to have internet connection to realize their functions of producing and interchanging of the contents generated by users (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). To be clearer, the social media is what we use to exchange information in daily life through internet. The implementation of social media can be found all around us, especially with the development of portable devices, and easier internet access. With constant upgrading on mobile platform, and the efforts of internet suppliers, more and more people can now enjoy the social media applications and media web sites with a relatively lower constraint by time and space. Through using social media tools, people can receive or deliver information quicker and more effectively. The implementation of social media has made the earth smaller. Thus, it may bring about many impacts which may significantly change people’s lives.
Natural Disasters can occur anywhere at anytime. Some are more predictable than others, but they all bring hardship to everyone’s life. Examples of natural disasters are Earthquakes (Haiti 2010), Tornadoes, Tsunami, Hurricanes, Wild Fires, Winter Storms, Heat waves, Mudslides and Floods. Regardless of what kind of disaster occurs, bottom line, everyone needs to be prepared mentally and physically to deal with the aftermath. Education is the first step to prepare you to deal with any major disaster. Three of the major disasters that can potentially disrupt normal day to day operations in our lives, are Hurricanes, Tsunamis and Tornadoes.
Lets take a look at natural disasters, social media helps spread knowledge about events. Not everyone watches the news, and I am sure that those people who don’t watch news have some type of social media. Natural disasters are important and social media helps us be aware of our surrounds where ever we may be. Newspapers can only do so much and they take time to print and reach everyone. In critical circumstances newspapers needs to spread fast even cross borders, however social media ends up doing exactly
There are different types and causes of disasters: man-made, natural and a combination. Man-made disasters are caused by human error or human actions that cause harm to the environment, and people (Baack & Alfred, 2013). Natural disasters are caused by nature, a hurricane for example, and a combination of NA-TECH (natural-technological). Examples are earthquakes that cause structural damage such as a collapse of a bridge (Nies & McEwen, 2011). Communities must have effective emergency preparedness in place to reduce the casualties of a disaster.
Nowadays, social media is growing very rapidly throughout the whole world. Social media has changed the way that we communicate with others through using these common social networking sites like Face book, Twitter, and Instagram…For that, social media has positively and negatively impacted our life.
Some of the ideas that are central to the idea that social media is a benefit to today’s society are that social media encourages increased communication with friends and family, provides fast access to breaking news and other information, and help business attract new business and correspond more quickly with their existing customers. Increased communication is important in all aspects of life. Keeping in touch with family and friends is easier than ever before. Whether it be a Facebook post or a tweet updating friends about exciting news or being able to see a picture...