http://mappingonlinepublics.net/http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Local and Global Responses to Disaster: #eqnz and the Christchurch Earthquake

Assoc. Prof. Axel Bruns, Dr. Jean BurgessARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbane, Australia

a.bruns@qut.edu.au / je.burgess@qut.edu.au http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Crisis Communication Research at QUT

o ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation (national, based at QUT)

o Project: Media Ecologies & Methodological Innovation

o New methods to understand the changing media environment;

o Role of social media, especially Twitter

o Focus on Crisis Communication eg #qldfloods

o Partnerships with government, media orgs

http://cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Methods

o Keyword-based archive (eg #qldfloods, #eqnz, bieber)

o Capture: yourTwapperkeepero Analysis: text analysis software,

manual coding o Activity, themes & topics, key actors

& info sources; over time

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Twitter and the 22 Feb. Christchurch Earthquake: #eqnz

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: Tweets Sent by Most Active Accounts (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: @replies Received (Including Manual Retweets; 22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

mainstream news

authorities

utilities

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: Tweet Types Received by Leading Accounts (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

#eqnz: Tweet Types over Time (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: Manual Retweets and @replies (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

o Changing @reply patterns with the move from rescue to recovery:

22-24 Feb 2011 25 Feb. - 3 Mar. 2011Retweets @replies Retweets @replies

nzherald 5748 713 CEQgovtnz 3349 121NZStuff 1736 312 nzherald 2227 447AnthonyBaxter 1590 62 ChristchurchCC 1830 272TVNZnews 1503 208 NZcivildefence 561 72georgedarroch 1399 55 NZStuff 532 173TelecomNZ 1289 592 NewstalkZB 431 43abcnews 1131 127 operationSAFE 399 547StephenFry 1094 44 nz_quake 350 22vodafonenz 1071 559 TelecomNZ 314 163CEQgovtnz 689 137 VMGiving 277 9rgoodchild 577 125 NZTopModelColin 271 128ChristchurchCC 573 211 georgedarroch 270 6NewstalkZB 554 44 NZRedCross 268 207SocialMedia_NZ 491 26 eqnz_live 240 29HuffingtonPost 478 25 3NewsNZ 200 28

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: Number of Unique Users Discussing the 2010/11 Earthquakes

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Twitter and the Christchurch Earthquake

o Towards better strategies for social media in disasters:o February 2011 earthquake building on lessons learnt in September

2010o #eqnz and key Twitter accounts already establishedo Several key accounts sharing the load and dividing responsibilities

o More sophisticated use of Twitter by residents and authorities

o Clear shift in attention after the immediate rescue phase:o Marked differences in list of most @replied/retweeted accountso Some tracking of current problems / issues / fears may be possibleo Decline in overall tweet volume / diversification of #hashtags?

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: Contribution by Different User Groups (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: Contribution by Different User Groups in Each Event

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

#eqnz: Visibility of Leading Accounts in Each Event

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

Social Media and Crisis Communication

o Twitter research:o Develop better tools and metrics for evaluating social media

communicationo In-depth analysis of communication patterns reveals how social media

are usedo Real-time analytics: highlight key current issues, identify weak signals

of crisiso Monitor and improve effectiveness of social media communication

strategies by emergency services

o Social media uses:o Inform, share, amplify, support, reassure, organiseo Need to track and work with user community: follow their conventions

(e.g. #eqnz hashtag)o Two-way communication where feasible – more than broadcast

messageso Provide community with tools to self-organise for resilience

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

@snurb_dot_info@jeanburgess@_StephenH@DrTNitins@timhighfield