Social Media 's Impact On Disaster Relief

“Social media platforms held the promise of being more egalitarian and democratic than mass media in a sense that all users could equally participate and contribute content” (Dijck & Poell, 6). This explains a basic purpose of social media that remains consistent with the democratic values of freedom that the U.S. is founded upon by providing citizens with a platform where they are free to speak their mind. What makes this even more interesting is the ability for people to share their opinions on a stage that has relatively no geographical boundaries. Rather than restricting the spread of individuals’ beliefs, social networking sites help spread messages and information to anyone, faster than was previously possible. According to Dijck and Poell, “social media platforms seldom deal with ‘natural’ geographically or demographically delineated audiences; instead, they expedite connections between individuals, partly allowing the formation of strategic alliances or communities through users’ initiative” (Dijck & Poell, 8). Social networking sites are naturally designed to increase connectivity and interactions among individuals with common interests or beliefs. The idea of connectivity has significantly influenced the way in which protests are held in America and around the world.

Today, people seem blinded by their outsized enthusiasm for social media. According to them, a few clicks can change the whole world and accomplish wonders such as curing cancer. Good intentions become sufficient on their own, as if there were no need for medicine and scientific researches anymore. Well, this is pure nonsense. Facebook’s likes cannot save African children from starvation, the same way Twitter’s 140 characters will not put an end to acts of terrorism. This notion is not even remotely debatable. For instance, the project Kony2012 had a perfect starting point; inspiring video, moving story and most importantly worldwide spread. Unfortunately, the terrorist is still at liberty, and the lack of thorough investigations is to blame. Instead of focusing on the real problems of war and kidnapping of children, the so-called activist related to the obvious and spent all of his money and energy on his movie. Ultimately, due to the predominance of weak-ties, the project was not successful. More importantly, certain tools of social networks, especially “likes” and “retweets”, encourage people to feel good about themselves, when actually they should incite them to put their efforts and means in the cause they supposedly defend. As Gladwell wrote, “[current] activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that

With the recent advent of social media we are now more aware to the plights of the less fortunate. Former Vice Provost of Duke University Cathy Davidson, author of the essay “Project Classroom Makeover”, discusses the rise of our interconnected society through the use of social media in her essay. In tandem with Davidson is Maggie Nelson, whose essay “Great to Watch” explores the violence that is so entrenched in our society. The advent of the internet created social media platforms for previously unheard of connection. Giving everyone an equal voice, this platform was prime for being used for activism. However it is not that simple, being an activist for human rights will expose a complex world of parallel and sometimes contradictory ideas. Well used is social media for activism, and for good purpose, it is the most powerful tool for exposing the oft overlooked humanitarian issues of our world.

“Social media makes the community part of the actual crisis communication response. For example…Twitter was used to quickly share initial information and updates during the 2007 and 2008 California wildfires, 2008 Mumbai massacre, 2009 crash of US Airways Flight 1549, 2010 Haiti earthquake, and 2011 Tunisian uprising.” This information, again in Veil’s 2011 article, reinforces the idea of how social media communication is highly beneficial and furthers an individual’s ability to remain informed on current events.

The term “social media” refers to the wide range of Internet-based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute user-created content, or join online communities (Dewing). It has become common today to use applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to express and share your thoughts, opinions, and common interest. In Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, writer Malcolm Gladwell touches upon the issues of social media’s role in activism vs. the traditional way of becoming a true activist Many of us today use these social networks for its beneficial approach to attract users and acquaintances to support their cause or

IT’S no secret that society’s perception of the world and ourselves is strongly shaped by social media. Popular networking sites such as Instragram, Facebook and Tumblr monopolize any current trend, magnifying it and making it widespread and visible.

Analysis of survey data from more than 300 local government officials revealed strong evidence of a positive impact from social media on the ability of an agency to control and manage a crisis. (Graham, Avery, & Park, 2015).

The Video “How social media makes us unsocial” by Allison Graham gave a speech about how social media is making us anti-social and how it effects our life. We embraced and adapted to new technology and social media quickly. They have changed our world in so many ways but those changes are not always for the better. It’s actually a huge risk we are running in our society. Social media has isolated or disconnected us from the people we care.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networking sites from the internet may look like just another platform to post pictures on, to share the things a person has done, or to connect to friends and families by the usage of messenger applications. However, these are not the only activities that can be done by utilizing the power of the social media and the internet. The mode of communication and interaction between the people all over the globe are now significantly being transformed by social media technologies (Edosomwan et al., 2011). These technologies have also paved the way to a different form of activism which is digital activism.

The Haiti earthquake of 2010 challenged the way the international humanitarian community had been collecting data for and during an emergency crisis. After any large-scale disaster, there is always a period of chaos where NGOs are trying to gather and analyze as much critical information as possible that would be required to establish the essential needs of the affected persons most efficiently, this comes as a result of humanitarian organizations failure to develop adequate preparedness for disaster. The Haiti quake illustrated, for the first time, the use of technologies such as social media and mobile phones by the affected community to issue pleas of help and indicate their requirement needs. Volunteers from around the world responded

Before inspecting and analyzing social media’s role in today’s society, the purpose of it needs to be acknowledged. The first form of it came about in the late 1990’s in the shape of a website called Six Degrees. The website, in the words of founder Andrew Weinreich, “was created based on the theory that every person in the world could be connected to each other by just six degrees of separation” (Eastern Michigan University Public Relations). Although it has succeeded, the original idea of Weinreich and Six Degrees has been abused and blown way out of proportion. Yes, everyone is indeed connected, which is amazing on its own. However, when the actions of billions are combined in an online world where no filter is necessary and nobody is afraid

Social networking sites and applications such as Facebook and Twitter have revolutionized the way people speak out for social justice. Before smart phones and social media applications became the norm, protests would be organized almost entirely by word-of-mouth. This provided a challenge for organizers who struggled to make their message for social justice be heard. After smart phones and social media applications became popular, however, people were able to use social networking sites as platforms to raise their voice against social injustice. Simply, it became easier to organize protests because their message reached more people than ever before. Suddenly, people were able to react to a social injustice faster than ever before. This process

As Alexander (2013) highlights, social media provides a voice to people who do not normally have one due to the wide community of users. Lindsay (2011) stresses that while present emergency communication systems are mostly centralized through one-way communication from the organisation to the public, social media can possibly change emergency communication as information can flow in many directions. During the Haiti earthquake, Keim and Noji (2011) find out that users in Haiti reported the earthquake live, including information and images on areas affected.

You are awesome, you are exactly in the right direction to get in a good shape for a research. There were only few studies examining the impacts of social media in emergency management. Many of the mechanisms are still unclear. To better understand why some PIOs are willing to use social media, whereas others are not is a worthy study and I believe the results can of course contribute to theories in risk communications.

The almost omnipresent Internet transforms our lives, connecting us to family, friends, and the world in ways inconceivable only a few years ago. Through social media, we actively participate in creating, editing, and consuming a never-ending stream of data. Private corporations and protagonists of political or social change all vie to reach and engage highly targeted