Figuring Out #Fukushima: An Initial Look at Functions and Content of US Twitter Commentary About Nuclear Risk

Abstract

This study takes an exploratory look at Twitter content in the USA about the emergency at Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station. In particular, I focus on the concepts of the “atrophy of vigilance” from the risk communication literature and the message functions fulfilled for social media users. Two important results emerge from this analysis. First, Twitter content in the USA reflected a cautious approach, mainly suggesting an informative versus interpretive function and rarely mentioning risk or hazard outright. Second, this informative emphasis on risk dominated the content of tweets in the few days following the emergency but decreased substantially within 2 weeks afterwards; it was then overtaken by an interpretive risk emphasis. In addition, toward the end of this period, tweets were more likely to include hyperlinks to websites of traditional news outlets. Implications for the empirical study of social media and risk communication are discussed.