Emergency Management, Twitter, and Social Media Evangelism

TLDR

Limited research has investigated Twitter usage in crisis situations from an organizational perspective. The paper examines how emergency response organizations use social media, especially Twitter, to communicate with the public and gather on‑ground information, aiming to advance understanding of organizational innovation, risk communication, and technology adoption. The authors discuss public social media tools from an emergency management professional’s viewpoint, with particular emphasis on Twitter. A longitudinal case study of Los Angeles Fire Department PIOs shows that information evangelists are crucial for emergency management, revealing challenges in engaging with social media and Twitter, and offers insights into new media practices and challenges for crisis and risk management organizations.

Abstract

This paper considers how emergency response organizations utilize available social media technologies to communicate with the public in emergencies and to potentially collect valuable information using the public as sources of information on the ground. The authors discuss the use of public social media tools from the emergency management professional’s viewpoint with a particular focus on the use of Twitter. Limited research has investigated Twitter usage in crisis situations from an organizational perspective. This paper contributes to the understanding of organizational innovation, risk communication, and technology adoption by emergency management. An in-depth longitudinal case study of Public Information Officers (PIO) of the Los Angeles Fire Department highlights the importance of the information evangelist within emergency management organizations and details the challenges those organizations face engaging with social media and Twitter. This article provides insights into practices and challenges of new media implementation for crisis and risk management organizations.