Social Media to Situational Awareness; Value in not so many words

Social Media to Situational Awareness; Value in not so many words
Michael White CPP CRM Michael White Group [MW G]
1 | P a g e
Social Media to Situational Awareness;
Value in not so many words
#SituationalAwareness #SMEM

2 | P a g e
The question that this essay will address is whether or not information produced through social
media prior to and during an emergency has the potential for creating greater situational awareness
for first responders and ultimately a more enhanced management of the event.
Is there value in such things as crowdsourcing for social capital? Are there any trends signalling
the growing popularity of social media in emergency management or does social media distract
individuals from the tasks at hand? Many factors both in favor of and against the notion that social
media can create situational awareness whilst responding to or managing an emergency will be
explored.
How does the need for situational awareness in the execution of emergency response and social
media work together? Does social media provide any relevant information that can be acted upon
immediately? Does social media provide information that may cause emergency responders to
prepare for an emergency or does it provide a glimpse into the past? Or is social media simply an
inhibitor?
First, it’s essential to create a baseline from which the factors explored within this essay are to be
rooted; define what situation or situational awareness and social media are.
Situation or situational awareness has been identified as a critical, although intangible,
underpinning for successful decision-making across a multitude of multifarious and active
systems, including emergency response. It is the ability of
those involved as either front line responders or incident
managers to be able to have a clear picture of relevant
information inclusive of all known or potential threats from a
tactical perspective (Wikipedia, 2013).
Today’s Web 2.0 social media environment has been said to
be a technological phenomenon. Social media and the use of it is the way in which people will
interact as they generate, share and interchange information within virtual groups, associations and
networks (Ahlqvist et al, 2008). Some may think that social media is only communication via a
short message service or instant message software. The term social media encompasses other
arenas such as social networking; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Collaborative sites that allow
…the ability…to be able to
have a clear picture of
relevant information…

3 | P a g e
users to create documents via wikis, share audio records, photographs, and videos are also social
media. Simply put social media is an interactive medium of communication.
The following is some general background information to frame the environment that social media
has risen from. A snapshot of its popular demographic users and social medias potential. From
the beginnings of the internet the use of social media on the technological calendar of events is
truly still within its infancy. Why people use social media and why they navigate the way they do
through the various platforms is still really unknown. The positive impact of social media to
emergency response via situational awareness may be just around the corner. The opportunities
for harnessing social media as a tool is ever evolving and managing the information social media
produces towards positive ends of emergencies could be
remarkable. Social media’s pervasiveness in today’s
society will continue to explode with advancements as
personal communication technology changes at a rapid
pace driving to increase real-time communication and
access to information.
Many individuals under the age of 30 grew up in the Web 2.0 community utilizing the internet as
one of their most important sources of information; news, connectedness to family and friends
only to be bested by television (Krimsky, 2007). Social networking and social media research
literature as it relates to emergency management is still limited as it’s in its infancy. Very little
research on social media and networking appears to predate 2006. However, similar to the speed
in which the use of social media has grown various facets of security, and emergency management
have seen an increased trend in the number of papers that have been published, seminars and
webinars being hosted and various other online discussions regarding social media.
Recent events show that social media has the potential to magnify business impacts in disasters
and crises; business continuity strategists and emergency managers can no longer afford to view
social media as just another marketing medium. The failure to develop a comprehensive social
media plan before a business suffers an unexpected event could mean the end of a business’
reputation, brand, and even their business. To protect an organization, senior decision makers must
…social media has the
potential to magnify business
impacts in disasters and
crises;…

4 | P a g e
understand how the public perspective of a crisis could affect their business and develop plans and
messages to manage the social conversation before it begins.
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Short Messaging Service (SMS) are only a handful of
the many platforms or social media applications that a user may use simultaneously to deliver or
share a message. In fact, Wikipedia lists almost 200 social media/networking sites available
(Wikipedia, 2013) as depicted in Figure 1. Wikipedia’s list however is not at all inclusive. There
are many government internal SMS or instant messaging tools available, as there are similar
platforms in the private business and education communities. Within each of these and similar
platforms, the potentiality of large intricate and immediate connectedness to communities and the
exponential value to the messages being shared is often difficult to measure. Some, if not all of
these, platforms come with limitations. First the message deliverer must have access to the
internet. The intended audience or person receiving the message must not only have an active
internet connection and have already established notification settings or alerts to know there is a
message, but more importantly understand the message. Often social media platforms only allow
for a very short message. Preciseness within the message is essential. Twitter is an example where
the user’s message can be no larger than one hundred and forty characters including spaces.
Dependant on cellular carrier data plans some users may not have the ability to attach photos or
relay video imagery embedded in the messages.
Figure 1.0(Google Images, 2013)

5 | P a g e
First responders and incident management rely on information gained at the onset, duration and
post mortem of an incident. The call to 911, the on location recount of the eye witness, the initial
communication from the first on site emergency response personnel are often the only tools that
are relied upon to build the initial situational awareness. Often this initial situational awareness
information exchange is quickly accomplished. Incident managers continue to rely further on the
information gained from the field, satellite imagery, aerial video relay and many other tools,
sources and resources. Quite often the situational awareness of an emergency is the result of the
filtered, applied template, experience based, training driven, order followed and procedural
literature viewpoint of the responding and managing emergency personnel. Not that the above
approach is wrong; the information is quite detailed, lengthy and delivered in such a way that all
emergency responders understand it. However, is possibly knowing how an emergency event
started of any value; either by way of a picture from an angle yet to be known, a video clip from a
witness yet to be spoken to not just only for the emergency responders but those within the
communities or areas affected of the event? Is this enough information? Is there a moment of too
much information?
Social media is an enabling cross-platform application creating accessibility and the constant flow
of information. Geographical and locational data supplement situational updates (Vieweg et al.
2010). Information that could be considered “just-in-time” information can be utilized to inform
the general public and private response teams on what they may be faced with and how they may
need to cope with developing situations.
Social media can be used by emergency responders and incident managers as a ‘listening’ tool.
The messages that are exchanged specific to a geographic location, or event such as an earthquake,
an explosion or volcanic eruption paints a picture; provides situational awareness.
The ‘listening’ is more of a passive action/function which truly serves as a collecting point of
information. Participating in the use of social media by emergency responders and incident
managers allows for a closer monitoring of the events. The ‘listening’ keeps information in check;
verifies and provides validity to the information. With social media involvement, informed person
or users easily correct the false rumours that begin to circulate. Hence, in March 2011 the
reverberation of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, after event research indicated that the

6 | P a g e
Japanese public’s immense usage of social media applications did not lead to the successful
dissemination of rumour, deceptive information and wildly incorrect information. What was
realized was that almost 50% of Twitter messages were positive or somewhat positive in their
viewpoint or message position towards emergency preparedness and less than 10% had negative
undertones (Hjorth et al, 2011).
Government agencies, major corporations, property management firms, healthcare and educational
institutions and the like all have a duty of care with respect to emergency preparedness and would
benefit from the monitoring of social media networks sites regularly. Integrating the function of
monitoring social media as an integral component of emergency preparedness and planning as a
mandated priority and function is the next use of social media towards situational awareness. The
adoption of social media would mean that many agencies, mostly government, would need to
change and adapt their current Incident Management System (IMS) model of emergency
management. The current functions within the IMS model of response does not call for monitoring
public social media, verifying information or seeking assistance. However, those in the private
realm utilize the social media platforms for marketing and customer interaction already, employing
individuals highly tuned in the necessary skill set making the monitoring of social media less
challenging for the private industries to migrate and integrate the monitoring of social media into
their emergency management preparedness. The advantage to social media engagement for many
private organizations is that they’re a known and trusted advisor to their customer base; their
customers are more willing to engage in a two-way conversation opting to provide information
willingly. For many private organizations the use of social media has already becoming an integral
part of their emergency response in the form of communicating to their community and monitoring
what their community is saying.
An on-line surveying tool developed by researchers is designed to detect sudden increases ('bursts')
in the occurrence of particular words that appear on Twitter (Cheong et al, 2010). This application
can then be used to weasel out the rumours and misuses of Twitter. Researchers at the University
of Indiana are monitoring this application, via a website called Truthy (truthy.indiana.edu). Such
an application creates social capital. To get the social capital, persons responsible for the
monitoring will need to incorporate crowdsourcing.

7 | P a g e
Crowdsourcing is the next use of social media in the realm of emergency management. A
crowdsourcing definition in simple terms is that it represents taking the function and task that may
have been performed by one or a small group of employees and outsourcing that accountability to
generally a much larger group or network of people. This is usually accomplished in somewhat
of an open call format. One of the key elements to crowdsourcing is the open call format (Howe,
2006).
The very first people responding to an emergency are usually members of the general public. If
these first responders are engaged in social media they now become two-way communicative
responders. They have the ability to then provide information and imagery of the event to the
larger group; who may offer solutions, suggestions or further instructions. Having these first
responders openly and willingly engaged in the use of social media creates social capital. Social
capital is an expected benefit from the cooperation of individuals and groups. This social capital
translates into a collective benefit from public to private responders in that a greater awareness of
the event, risks and threats is developed adding value to the overall response to an emergency and
favourable cause for adoption of social media usage in emergency management.
As social media is a resource tool in its infancy and not fully proven, many emergency managers
don’t utilize it. By openly engaging in social media as part of the operational function of response,
emergency managers get to be the official spokesperson on those platforms for those particular
events. Emergency managers become the disseminators of information to the public, not only
during an event but both pre event (preparedness) and post event (resumption or recovery). These
capabilities give responders, public or private incident manager’s a clearer big picture view of the
situation during an emergency and potentially provide their first responders and the general public
with awareness and knowledge of what to or not to do.
The implementation of social media in emergency management is already being realized by one
of the largest North American cities and several large federal government agencies. The United
States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security and
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) all have social media strategies as an operational
function in their emergency preparedness and plans. FEMA and the FCC, in conjunction with

8 | P a g e
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, launched PLAN (Personalized Localized Alert
Network), the United States’ first geographically targeted emergency-notification system, which
sends free emergency alerts to enabled devices to notify citizens of "imminent threats" in their
vicinity (SMS in Action, 2011).
There have already been success stories despite the potential for its negative use, in using social
media for emergency/disaster response. Social networks have been used to provide instant and
spontaneous reports on health issues, such as cholera in Haiti and dengue fever in Thailand and
Indonesia (Resch et al. 2011). This interaction by the use of social media created greater situational
awareness of the existing threats, issues, concerns and risks.
Social media enabled public warnings, and help find missing
persons and empowered mapping of different aspects of the
emergency in Japan after the March 2011 earthquake and
tsunami (Hjorth et al, 2011). Social media essentially became
the primary source of information.
Other examples of where social media generated situational awareness were with responders and
the community in the flash floods in Victoria and Queensland, Australia, 2011. There was a
tremendous amount of support and public approval of the emergency services utilizing various
Facebook accounts to disseminate information. Social media via Facebook assisted in the response
to the emergency and the situational awareness of the events; not just for responders but for those
in the general public who were facing the emergency head on. (Bird et al, 2012).
During the floods in Victoria and Queensland, Australia in 2011, extensive use of social media
resulted in public interaction and communication, but not for the collective dissemination of false
and incorrect information. The greater benefit is that social media can be used to deliver warnings
to users. In the most sophisticated cases, these warnings may involve local information in the form
of maps and data, as well as instructions on what to do during an impending crisis.
Bird et al (2012) noted that although rumours and mistruths maybe believed to be common at
critical or heightened moments of an emergency or disaster in this particular event the moderators
There have already been
success stories…

9 | P a g e
of the various Facebook pages were swift at confirming information and equally swift in providing
an official source when available.
The use of social media did not lead to a situation of wide-ranging chaos, but created a positive
avenue of information sharing, an enhancement to the knowledge of what was transpiring and what
possibly could transpire, despite the presence of a major crisis—the floods.
A social media usage survey was conducted by the American Red Cross in 2010 (Blanchard et al.
2010). Some findings were that 24% of the US population and 31% of the online population would
use the media to tell family and friends they are safe. This reflects both the utility of social media
and either an ease of use of social media or perhaps a understandable lack of confidence in means
of communication such as direct telephone calls, which are subject to network saturation.
When many major natural disasters occur it’s not uncommon to hear that traditional telephone
lines are off line, either due to the networks being overwhelmed or physical disruption by way of
poles down or provider’s major switches have been damaged. Interestingly, internet connections
are often available and usable. People text or post their personal status to alert family and friends
both that they’re safe and/or what they’re experiencing. These same messages often request advice
as to what they ought or not do. Many emergency preparedness plans make the assumption that
communications will not be available in their area at the time of an emergency. This is an
erroneous notion, communication may be available. Furthermore, the communication may be
instantaneous, allowing for updates, guidance, the delivery of warnings and general messages.
Where does social media fall short? Does social media mislead responders and incident managers
into a false sense of enhanced situational awareness and intentionally escalate risk, resulting in the
potential of greater losses?
A great amount of censure towards social media stems back to a basic level of trustworthiness.
The determination of whether or not the information presented is accurately factual. Trust is
disproportionate, personalised, and dependent on context and potentially short-lived (Johnson et
al, 2011). It has become common place to hear of the latest hack of a celebrity’s Twitter or
Facebook account, the obtaining of personal information and the call for increased governance and
security to private information, or at least the perceived security of information placed in public

10 | P a g e
forums. It is events such as the above that hamper efforts towards the inclusion of social media
information into emergency response efforts.
So why are agencies a little timid about integrating social media into their emergency preparedness
and planning? It’s simple. As social media may be popular and rampant in the general public
realm and in the homes and hearts of millions, the time and effort it takes to update statuses of
various accounts for an organization with limited resources stretches the efforts that might be best
served and capitalized elsewhere in the response efforts. Time is often the most valued commodity
during an emergency. Monitoring the various social media accounts from Twitter, Facebook,
Pinterest, Google+ and many others creates a new level of accountability, function, and
management of personnel resources. With many
organizations doing more with less, this may not be
a feasible effort for some organizations.
Social media is a distraction. As workplace
productivity research has shown, employees who
participate in social media during their work day are
less productive. Social media is then thought of as
nothing more than a distraction, or an attempt to replace a real community with a virtual one and
at any rate affects general response by individuals (Orrill, 2012).
An additional drawback of social media is that crowdsourcing towards social capital lacks a
common mechanism to facilitate coordination between organisations, it lacks security features,
and it does not necessarily provide the information that is most needed or most accurate (Hammon
et al, 2012).
Murthy (2011) noted that the very people who are most in need of support may be those who both
have least access to and understanding of the technology that they would need in order to
participate in the social media revolution. This group certainly wouldn’t participate in providing
information to enhance situational awareness in the height of an emergency. But apart from the
basic digital divide between the 'haves' and 'have not’s', researchers have noted the persistence of
demarcations on the basis of race and class among users of the technology and services. The noted
…social media did not lead to a
situation of wide-ranging chaos,
but created a positive avenue of
information sharing…

11 | P a g e
challenges of access, understanding, demarcation on the basis of race and class present a great
barrier in creation of a crowdsourcing community.
With 55 million tweets per day, it is conceivable that the utmost challenge in using social media
is the sheer volume of information out there (Statistic Brain, 2012). One researcher (Goolsby 2009)
commented that "finding useful 'tweets' during a major event ... is a little like panning for gold in
a raging river."
Emergency response agencies such as the police and military are primarily structured in a
Command and Control framework. Briefly, the command and control framework is a hierarchical
system by where higher ranking individuals instruct the lower ranked individuals what to do.
However, during an emergency these very same agencies employ the Incident Management
System (IMS). Briefly, IMS is basically structured in that the ‘lower’ ranking individuals; the
boots on the ground emergency responders feed the ‘higher’ ranking individuals; the incident
management team, information, the next steps and what is required for those next steps. The
‘higher’ ranking individuals provide guidance and source out the resources needed and make them
available to the first responders. The general public may not understand either structure of
management. Both systems are intended to be managed in a particular manner with specific
criterion, format and structure. The general public are not going to structure their posts, tweets
and SMS texts filled with information, questions or requests with that consideration. The divide
between the command and control and the incident management systems is in the style and format
of language that is presented and furthermore how it is essentially interpreted.
It would be with great criticism bestowed upon this research if it was not acknowledged that not
everyone participating in social media is doing it for the greater good of society, the advancement
of the human race and the protection of others. Of course, rumor dissemination, false or misleading
messages whether done for personal entertainment, monetary gain or out of pure ignorance is
present.
Social media has been used in the choreography of crime. As with many pieces of information
whether in social media, websites, blogs or other platforms therein, anything on the Web could
have the tendency to produce rumors and falsehoods that could hurt emergency response efforts.

12 | P a g e
The summer of 2011 London England saw rioters perpetuating there message through social media
(The Guardian, 2012).
One possible additional reason for the slow integration or resistance to social media use of some
emergency and incident managers is that of privacy. On the other hand, if people volunteer their
information to the open public domains of the internet, they most likely understand it is not a
private conversation. However, with almost daily scrutiny of various organizations’ information
security practices regarding personal information; both government and private organizations want
to be held harmless. If personal information is provided willingly or even if asked for in the course
of duties, and if intercepted they would not be held responsible.
Perhaps the most significant drawback to social
media is the anonymity that it can provide. There is
no way to know who is actually talking. Anonymous
sources must be viewed with skepticism, especially
when those unknown voices are helping to direct
policy or allocate resources during a crisis.
Aside from survival of an emergency, instinctively during or immediately after people have a
desire to tell people that they’re okay, or to find out if people they know are okay. In the most
recent technological past, people would simply use a phone; cellular or good old POTS and call
family, friends or even a co-worker depending on the circumstances. People want other people to
know that they’re safe, and they the reciprocated response. People want to describe or have the
experience described to them; what was seen, what was said, what was heard, felt, done. People
want to gain information so that they can build on their situational awareness. The utilization of
social media tools during an emergency will become a growing reflex. The faster that responders;
whether private or public learn how to, implement into and effectively communicate within social
media, the more valuable the information being pushed and pulled becomes. A greater
understanding of what is happening is understood and the next steps become clearer faster.
Social media can be used to make people feel part of particular initiatives, creating social
interaction between individuals and promoting beneficial outlets and resources. Organizations can
Social media has been used in
the choreography of crime.

13 | P a g e
foster a sense of identification with local or on-line communities. Individuals caught up in an
emergency or disaster can be more supported creating a generally optimistic perception about the
future when engaged extensively with social media during the event. Moreover, social media can
be used to enhance voluntarism by increasing the profile and connectedness of voluntary
organisations as with many major emergencies and disasters volunteerism towards response and
recovery is at a premium.
Bystanders are becoming a part of response in ways they couldn’t before. There have been natural
disasters where bystanders were taking pictures that provide situational awareness before
emergency services arrive. There have been wildfires where bystanders actually post videos on
YouTube about what they’re seeing from their vantage point that aid the emergency medical
service providers in determining the best way to respond.
Many emergency managers have assumed that after a large-scale disaster event all
communications would be silenced in the impacted areas. Recent experiences, however, has
proved this assumption incorrect — first with Haiti (January 2010) and then Australia (2011). In
both cases, the cell towers proved to be more resilient than assumed. Because social media
platforms can be accessed on hand-held communication devices, survivors and public safety
organizations have turned to these platforms as a way to keep the information flowing during and
after a disaster.
Social media demonstrates its ability and capabilities as an outward information generator daily.
It’s a platform for both the private and public entities to push information out to its customers and
citizens. It’s a means for individuals, families and friends to exchange and share information, not
only at the onset and height of an emergency but also post event.
Private (corporations) and public (government agencies) organizations have a great need to have
a ‘live and conscious’ presence in social media. A social media presence creates trustworthiness,
credibility and a following. When events do happen followers turn to their trusted sources to not
only follow the information or instructions provided, but also to share that information with their
followers who believe them to be a trusted source. Organizations need to openly encourage that
accurate and relevant information is shared. Although sifting through the information available

14 | P a g e
via social media may appear to be a daunting task, the overall results and investment may just be
priceless.
The use of social media has not occurred without risks. These risks are mostly associated with the
propagation of false or inaccurate information, and the potential consequences of this inaccurate
information. Such false information was spread in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary school
shooting which occurred in Newtown Connecticut December 2012. Authorities quickly took to
the airwaves and social media to not only dispel the misleading information but also to assert the
knowledge that some of the posts were of a threatening manner and that misrepresentations; such
as impersonating the police were going to be managed in the appropriate manner by way of
investigation and where necessary prosecution (Roberts, 2012).
Even as these active and passive uses of social media come into their own, newer active and passive
uses are evolving. Rather than shout, government agencies and those alike can listen. They can
gather all the information by monitoring the threads of activity, sifting for relevant mentions that
might help them to better respond to crises and emergencies. It in fact provides them the platform
to go from just listening and monitoring to being the provider of factual content, the official word
and seeing that they are trustworthy due to the base of followers they’ve created become the source
people will look and turn to in the event of an emergency. That following will then spread that
message throughout their community but not just during emergency or disastrous times, but also
preparedness messages when in nonemergency readiness mode.
The goal is simple in every emergency response; save and protect lives and reduce loss of property.
Ultimately adding one more tool can only make it better.
Traditionally, the general public has relied on professionals to manage an emergency situation.
Now that many people are carrying smartphones that have cameras and recorders, they’re able to
be mini-journalists and provide situational awareness. Social media certainly shouldn’t replace our
current systems, but oftentimes it can help in emergency response, providing supplemental
information. What’s interesting about social media is the self-correcting that takes place. If
individual’s posts potentially false information about a major event, there will be other people who
will post a comment, photo or video that will correct the information.

15 | P a g e
The other important factor on the horizon is how to use location-based service applications. It
would be interesting in a disaster to provide information to people as to whether or not areas may
be safe or unsafe, or where they can get help if needed. It’s an area that is currently not or widely
implemented but may have positive impact.
Social media creates generous and widespread changes to active communication between
organizations, individuals and largely communities. Implementing social media into emergency
response inclusive of all of the messages pre and post event undoubtedly enhances situational
awareness for all affected.
Should social media be the only source of information? Absolutely not. But it’s there, why not use
the information? The value of the information outweighs the cost of finding it. Positive movement
in implementation exists in government, quasi government and the private sector.
The movement of Web 2.0, the growth and implementation of social media into daily life is
inevitable. The adaptation of social media into pre-existing emergency management systems is
inevitable.

16 | P a g e
Reference List
1. Wikipedia (2013) Situational Awareness [online]
Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_awareness Accessed on: [13
March 2013]
2. Ahlqvist, Toni; Bäck, A., Halonen, M., Heinonen, S (2008). "Social media roadmaps
exploring the futures triggered by social media". VTT Tiedotteita - Valtion Teknillinen
Tutkimuskeskus (2454): 13. [online] Available from:
http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/tiedotteet/2008/T2454.pdf Accessed on [ 10 March 2013]
3. Krimsky, S. 2007. Risk communication in the Internet age: the rise of disorganized
skepticism. Environmental Hazards 7(2):157-164. [online] Accessed from:
http://www.tufts.edu/~skrimsky/PDF/Risk%20Comm%20Internet%20Age.PDF
Accessed on: [15 March 2013]
4. Wikipedia (2013) List of Social Networking Websites [online] Available from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites Accessed on: [26
March 2013]
5. Google Images (2013) Social media logos [online] Available from:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=social+media+logos&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=
univ&sa=X&ei=sZ5UUZr1ILSvygGkxoCIAw&sqi=2&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1708&b
ib=846 Accessed on: [28 March 2013]
6. Vieweg, S. A.L. Hughes, K. Starbird and L. Palen 2010. Microblogging during two
natural hazards events: what Twitter may contribute to situational awareness. ACM
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2010 Proceedings: Crisis
Informatics. 10-15 April 2010, Atlanta, Georgia: 1079-1088. [online] Accessed from:
https://www.cs.colorado.edu/~palen/vieweg_1700_chi2010.pdf Accessed on: [16 March
2013]
7. Bird, D., M. Ling and K. Haynes 2012. Flooding Facebook: the use of social media
during the Queensland and Victorian floods. Australian Journal of Emergency
Management 27(1): 30-31. [online] Accessed from:
http://www.em.gov.au/Publications/Australianjournalofemergencymanagement/Currenti
ssue/Documents/AJEM%2027-1/Flooding_Facebook.PDF Accessed on: [20 March
2013]

17 | P a g e
8. Blanchard, H., A. Carvin, M.E. Whittaker, M. Fitzgerald, W. Harman and B. Humphrey
(2010). The case for integrating crisis response with social media. White Paper,
American Red Cross, Washington, DC. [online] Accessed from:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35737608/White-Paper-The-Case-for-Integrating-Crisis-
Response-With-Social-Media Accessed on: [12 March 2013]
9. Hjorth, L. and K-H.Y. Kim 2011. The mourning after: a case study of social media in the
3.11 earthquake disaster in Japan. Television and New Media 12(6): 552-559. [online]
Accessed from: http://tvn.sagepub.com/content/12/6/552.full.pdf Accessed on: [24
March 2013]
10. Howe, Jeff (2006). "Crowdsourcing: A Definition". Crowdsourcing Blog. [online]
Accessed from: http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com/cs/2006/06/crowdsourcing_a.html
Accessed on: [21 March 2013]
11. Stirratt, A.A. 2011. Social media use in March 2011 Japanese crisis: impact on
emergency preparedness advocacy. Master of Public Health Dissertation, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Indiana. [online] Accessed from:
http://search.proquest.com/docview/905311625/fulltextPDF/13D37B49C5E65E749D/1?
accountid=9744 Accessed on: [22 March 2013]
12. Barr, P. 2011. Staying connected. Social media put to work when disaster strikes.
Modern Healthcare 41(36): 33. [online] Accessed from:
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=1eabb2ad-c47c-49a8-bf66-
51b6f65fd551%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2
ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=65433872 Accessed on: [10 March 2013]
13. SMS in Action SMS Solutions for the Social Good. (2011) Personal Localized Alert
Network via SMS [online]. Available from:
https://smsinaction.crowdmap.com/reports/view/54 Accessed on: [15 March 2013]
14. Johnson, H., N. Lavesson, H. Zhao and S.F. Wu 2011. On the concept of trust in online
social networks. In L. Salgarelli, G. Bianchi and N. Blefari-Melazzi (eds) Trustworthy
Internet. Springer, Berlin: 143-157. [online] Accessed from:
http://www.bth.se/com/nla.nsf/bilagor/Trust_in_OSN_Springer_Book_pdf/$file/Trust_in
_OSN_Springer_Book.pdf Accessed on: [3 April 2013]

18 | P a g e
15. Orrill, J. (2012) Loss of Productivity due to Facebook. Azcentral.com [online]. Posting
date undeterminable. [online] Available from: http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/loss-
productivity-due-facebook-5468.html Accessed on: [15 March 2013]
16. Hammon, L. and H. Hippner 2012. Crowdsourcing. Business and Information Systems
Engineering 4(3): 163-166. [online] Accessed from:
http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12599-012-0215-7 Accessed on: [13
March 2013]
17. Murthy, D. (2011). Twitter: microphone for the masses? Media, Culture and Society
33(5): 779-789. [online] Accessed from:
http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/33/5/779.full.pdf Accessed on: [25 March 2013]
18. Statistic Brain (2012) Twitter Statistics [online]. Available from:
http://www.statisticbrain.com/twitter-statistics/ Accessed on: [15 March 2013]
19. Goolsby, R. (2009). Lifting elephants: twitter and blogging in global perspective. In H.
Liu, J.J. Salerno and M.J. Young (eds) Social Computing and Behavioral Modeling.
Springer, Berlin, 2-7. [online] Accessed from:
http://cms.springerprofessional.de/BOK=978-1-4419-0056-2/CHP=2_10.1007-978-1-
4419-0056-2_2/BodyRef/PDF/978-1-4419-0056-2_Chapter_2.pdf Accessed on: [17
March 2013]
20. The Guardian (2012) UK riots 'made worse' by rolling news, BBM, Twitter and
Facebook [online] Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/28/uk-
riots-twitter-facebook [26 March 2013]
21. Roberts, C. (2012 Social media users spreading false information about Sandy Hook
[online] Available from: http://www.sott.net/article/254915-Social-media-users-
spreading-false-information-about-Sandy-Hook Accessed on: [8 April 2013]

19 | P a g e
Bibliography
1. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2010) Office of Operations Coordination and
Planning: Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness
Initiative. Donald Triner, Director (Acting), National Operations Centre Office of
Operations Coordination and Planning. Washington: Department of Homeland Security
Privacy Office
2. Federal Emergency Management Agency (2012) Office of Policy and Program Analysis:
Crisis Response and Disaster Resilience 2030: Forging Strategic Action in an Age of
Uncertainty Progress Report Highlighting the 2010-2011. Strategic Foresight Initiative.
Available from: https://my.bucks.ac.uk/ [18 March 2013]
3. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2012) A Department of Homeland Security
Science and Technology Center of Excellence Bases at the University of Maryland: Social
Media Use during Disasters, A Review of the Knowledge Base and Gaps (Fraustino, Julia
Daisy, Brooke Liu and Yan Jin)

Social Media to Situational Awareness; Value in not so many words

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (18)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (7)

Similar to Social Media to Situational Awareness; Value in not so many words

Similar to Social Media to Situational Awareness; Value in not so many words (20)

Social Media to Situational Awareness; Value in not so many words