TWITTER AND DISASTERS

TLDR

The study investigates Twitter usage during the 2010 Pakistan floods to determine whether users prefer linking to traditional or social media, the geographic origins of those users, and any correlation between location and link type. The authors analyzed tweets and retweets from the event, categorizing linked content as traditional or social media and mapping user locations to assess link preferences. The results show that Western users overwhelmingly link to traditional media, Pakistani users slightly favor social media, authorities and hubs prefer social media links, and overall users in Pakistan perceive social media as legitimate during disasters, indicating a modest challenge to traditional media dominance in developing countries.

Abstract

This research explores the specific use of the prominent social media website Twitter during the 2010 Pakistan floods to examine whether users tend to tweet/retweet links from traditional versus social media, what countries these users are tweeting from, and whether there is a correlation between location and the linking of traditional versus social media. The study finds that Western users have an overwhelming preference for linking to traditional media and Pakistani users have a slight preference for linking to social media. The study also concludes that authorities and hubs in our sample have a significant preference for linking to social media rather than traditional media sites. The findings of this study suggest that there is a perceived legitimacy of social media during disasters by users in Pakistan. Additionally, it provides insights into how social media may be – albeit minimally – challenging the dominant position of traditional media in disaster reporting in developing countries.