Screaming into the Wind: Examining the Volume and Content of Tweets Associated with Hurricane Sandy

Abstract

Social media have gained increased use as sources of information, including information related to risks and crises. The current study explores Twitter use in the days leading up to the landfall of Hurricane Sandy in October, 2012. It provides an overview of the type of content tweeted, along with an assessment of the utility of this content in mitigating similar emergencies in the future. Tweets were collected at multiple time points. Tweet rate increased during the storm, and specific keywords were not used extensively. Government and organizational responses were largely absent. Finally, Twitter was used more for emotional release than to provide information.