Social media changing presentation of world disasters
Fri 01 July 2011
Karina Eastway, Bachelor of Communication, Journalism Major
On March 11, 2011, black watery fingers spread out across the Japanese landscape, mercilessly reclaiming harbours, villages, communities and farmland and creating images which have become iconic reminders of mankind’s mortality.
The images, which continued throughout that week, were unforgettable.
What was notable was that rather than turning to traditional channels such as newspapers and TV to view them, many people turned to the new phenomenon of social media.
While the tsunami was unfolding with unprecedented speed and detail, social media was leaving a mark all of its own.
Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, could provide huge positives in dealing with natural disasters.
It is used to warn, assist and transmit life-saving information, especially when disasters have devastated communication infrastructure.
In particular, aid organisations benefit from having instantaneous information to organise their response and collaborate with other agencies.
Most importantly, it provides a constant and reliable flow of data between all parties.
The use of social media during natural disasters first came to prominence in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when traditional news sources proved slow and unreliable.
Although it was untested and disorganised, social media platforms became a complementary source of information, provided a way of finding help, and searching for missing people.
Just eight years later, the Japanese disaster became an example of the advantages social media could provide in disaster response.
At the time of the tsunami, Japan was a country already well connected.
In August, 2010, Reuters reported that Japan was responsible for about 12 per cent of the world’s Twitter traffic.
It stated that Twitter was “wildly popular there”, partly due to the fact that you can say a lot more in 140 kanji characters than in 140 roman characters.
By the end of last year, 20 per cent of Japanese online users were visiting Twitter, placing it fourth in global markets.
Within an hour of the March earthquake, the number of tweets coming from Tokyo was topping 1200 per minute.
During that day, 1.7 million related tweets were sent, with tsunami mentions hitting 2.8 million a day by March 16, 2011.
Not surprisingly, #tsunami reached the number one spot for March tweeting trends.
The world no longer needed to buy a newspaper or turn on the television.
Social networking devices enabled those directly and indirectly affected by the disaster to stay immediately and continuously informed.
The social media revolution, enhanced by major events such as natural disasters, is staggering.
Twitter is currently opening just under half a million new accounts per day, and has 200 million account holders worldwide.
Facebook has more than 650 million users, and an online population penetration of about 50 per cent in countries such as the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
Queensland Police Service senior digital media officer James Kliemt said that the QPS recognised this trend and the huge increase in people using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in times of crisis.
Mr Kliemt said the QPS had started using social media to communicate with the public in mid 2010, but during the Queensland floods the services really took off.
“We realised this was easily the fastest, most effective way to get information to people in Queensland and also our media stakeholders,” Mr Kliemt said.
“It helped reduce fear—people felt like they were engaged and informed.”
The number of people who “liked” the QPS Facebook page increased from 6400 to more than 160,000 during the floods, and its Twitter followers jumped from about 1000 to more than 10,000.
By using simple tools such as hash tags, for example #qldfloods, tweets could be seen by anyone, not just those following QPS.
However, for all of its usefulness, social media has the potential to become self-focussed and turn natural disaster information into a form of entertainment.
Walkley Magazine contributing editor Jonathan Este said the holy grail of modern news media was “if news is important, it will find me”.
Mr Este’s meaning is clear, in that we live in an environment where social media is not only being used as the primary source of what’s happening, but is custom-made to serve our individual interests.
This is especially prevalent in the world of celebrity, where natural disasters become opportunities for self promotion.
Pink’s message to the people of Mission Beach Queensland following cyclone Yasi, Paris Hilton’s contribution to People magazine and Lindsay Lohan’s tweet of herself watching the Japanese tsunami on TV are just a few examples.
London’s Mayor Boris Johnson commented after the Japanese tsunami that it was human nature for people to put themselves at the centre of a story in this way.
Mr Johnson’s comparison to a “vast BBC reporter with an addiction to the first person singular” is an apt description of social media conversations which begin “my heart goes out to...” or “pray for...”.
Queensland University of Technology Media and Communication associate professor Axel Bruns said that there were generally three groups of people using social media during and post natural disasters.
The first were those involved in the crisis, either experiencing the event or providing assistance.
Secondly, those on the fringe of the disaster who try to assist by passing on emergency information or sympathetic #prayforjapan style messages.
Lastly, those that get caught up in the shock value of the event and develop a macabre fascination with it.
“Clearly social media has an important role to play in an event in which people are caught up and plays an important beneficial role in that context,” Prof Bruns said.
Prof Bruns’ analysis of social media following the Queensland floods showed the QPS was the public’s top source of information during the disaster, involving 1800 re-tweets of media information from January 11 to 14, 2011.
“To the people outside of the event they have legitimate and acceptable reasons to use social media to feel like they are helping, especially when there’s nothing else they can do,” Prof Bruns said.
“These people are genuinely expressing their sympathy, however re-tweets such as #prayforqld can clog up the ongoing stream of messages coming through.
“But there are some who pass on videos or photos more out of a morbid fascination of what’s going on and because of the shock value of the footage— when it is out of the ordinary and out of the unexpected.”
So-called “disaster porn” has been present for decades, describing gradual lessening of compassion and desensitisation to tragedy.
It describes how increased consumption leads to an addiction, requiring more exciting and increasingly explicit material.
The description has been around since the 1950s, but again came to prominence in January, 2010, when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, killing more than 230,000 people.
It was the first significant natural disaster to be covered by social media.
Australian Psychological Society senior lecturer in public interest, environment and disaster response Dr Susie Burke agreed that most people used social media during disasters to feel like they were helping.
However, Dr Burke said that it was quite easy to get addicted to the unfolding drama when something out of the ordinary was occurring.
“People use events such as natural disasters to actually feel things more deeply, and emotionally— to feel like they are in touch with their humanity again,” Dr Burke said.
“People need to remind themselves that being immersed in the drama isn’t helping and get unhooked.
“It’s easy to become precariously traumatised through the stress of natural disasters, especially when we are being overwhelmed with information 24/7.”
Dr Burke explained that if consumers felt overwhelmed, they risked becoming numbed to the impact of disasters and were therefore less compassionate. Additionally, as footage becomes more dramatic and constant, subsequent warnings become less relevant.
Dr Burke added that overexposure to natural disasters could have an especially negative effect on teenagers, who were continuously plugged in to a constant stream of social media platforms.
“Social media does shape our view of the world we are in and that is a threat going into the future at such as sensitive age,” Dr Burke said.
While people do benefit from the advantages social media provides during natural disasters, these media are also fulfilling basic human needs.
In particular, they fulfil people’s need to be involved, the need to feel connected to humanity and to feel the fragility of emotions through sympathy and shock.
People are also reminded of the uncertainty of the planet, and how perilously close they all are to life and death.
Best selling horror author Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc wrote that it was simply human nature to enjoy the adrenaline rush of fear, albeit from the safety of the sofa.
Mr Dean Van Scovoc believed that was why people watched and read horrific material “hand clamped firmly over your mouth and eyes shut, but then opened again, unable to tear yourself away”.
The need for connection, coupled with life’s uncertainties, may explain why, when it comes to natural disasters, the world embraces social media with such enthusiasm.
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Submitted Comments
Great article
Carlene