Part 1 of a workshop presented at the Disaster Resilient Communities Conference, Melbourne, 19 Apr. 2012.

1. Twitter and Disasters
Assoc. Prof. Axel Bruns
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane, Australia
a.bruns@qut.edu.au
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/
@snurb_dot_info
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

2. Social Media during Crises
o Various platforms:
o Facebook, Twitter – updates and information
o YouTube, Flickr, Twitpic – first-hand video and photos
o Google Maps, Ushahidi – map-based information mashups
 Different tools for different purposes
o Various levels of maturity:
o Uses and use practices still developing
o Different demographic reach
o Technological differences:
o e.g. Facebook: built around personal networks; semi-private;
discussion threads
o e.g. Twitter: open, flat network; public #hashtag conversations;
update stream
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

3. Why Twitter?
o Researching Twitter:
o Significant world-wide social network
o ~200 million users (but how many active?)
o ~2 million users in Australia
o Varied range of uses: from everyday communication to emergency
coordination
o Flat and open network structure:
non-reciprocal following, public profiles by default
o Hashtags as a flexible, ad hoc response mechanism
o Good API for gathering data for research and operational use
 How can Twitter be used for crisis information and community
resilience?
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

4. #qldfloods Tweets
10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

5. #qldfloods from Toowoomba to Brisbane
10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

6. #qldfloods @mentions
authorities
mainstream
media

7. Message Amplification on Twitter
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

8. Twitter and the 22 Feb. Christchurch Earthquake: #eqnz
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

9. #eqnz: @replies Received (Including Manual Retweets; 22 Feb.-7 Mar.)
mainstream news
authorities
utilities
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

10. #eqnz: Tweet Types over Time (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)

11. #eqnz: Manual Retweets and @replies (22 Feb.-7 Mar.)
o Changing @reply patterns with the move from rescue to recovery:
22-24 Feb 2011 25 Feb. - 3 Mar. 2011
Retweets @replies Retweets @replies
nzherald 5748 713 CEQgovtnz 3349 121
NZStuff 1736 312 nzherald 2227 447
AnthonyBaxter 1590 62 ChristchurchCC 1830 272
TVNZnews 1503 208 NZcivildefence 561 72
georgedarroch 1399 55 NZStuff 532 173
TelecomNZ 1289 592 NewstalkZB 431 43
abcnews 1131 127 operationSAFE 399 547
StephenFry 1094 44 nz_quake 350 22
vodafonenz 1071 559 TelecomNZ 314 163
CEQgovtnz 689 137 VMGiving 277 9
rgoodchild 577 125 NZTopModelColin 271 128
ChristchurchCC 573 211 georgedarroch 270 6
NewstalkZB 554 44 NZRedCross 268 207
SocialMedia_NZ 491 26 eqnz_live 240 29
HuffingtonPost 478 25 3NewsNZ 200 28
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

12. Real Estate
Jobs
Property
HR
Business
Parenting
Thematic Clusters
Business Mums Craft
Design
Social Media Property Arts
Web
Creative Tech Food
Perth PR Wine
Marketing / PR Advertising
IT
Beer
Tech
Creative
Social
Design
ICTs
NGOs Fashion
Utilities
Farming Social Policy Beauty
Services
Agriculture Net Culture
Adelaide
Opinion Books Theatre
Greens News Literature Film Arts
Publishing
ALP
Hardline Progressives
News @KRuddMP
Conservatives
@JuliaGillard Radio
Conservatives TV Music
Journalists Triple J
Talkback
Dance
Breakfast TV
Hip Hop
Cycling Celebrities
Union
Evangelicals Swimming
NRL V8s
Football Teens
Christians
Cricket Teaching Hillsong
AFL e-Learning
Schools Jonas Bros.
Beliebers

13. #Hashtag Participation
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
size = indegree

14. #ausvotes
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #ausvotes tweets, size = indegree

15. #qldfloods
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #qldfloods tweets, size = indegree

16. #eqnz
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #eqnz tweets, size = indegree

17. #masterchef
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #masterchef tweets, size = indeg.

18. #royalwedding
Follower/followee network:
~120,000 Australian Twitter users
(of ~950,000 known accounts by early 2012)
colour = #royalwedding tweets, size = indeg.

19. Social Media and Crisis Communication
o Twitter research:
o Develop better tools and metrics for evaluating social media communication
o In-depth analysis of communication patterns reveals how social media are used
o Real-time analytics: highlight key current issues, identify weak signals of crisis
o Monitor and improve effectiveness of social media communication strategies by
emergency services
o Social media uses:
o Inform, share, amplify, support, reassure, organise
o Need to track and work with user community: follow their conventions
(e.g. #eqnz hashtag)
o Two-way communication where feasible – more than broadcast messages
o Provide community with tools to self-organise for resilience
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/

20. http://mappingonlinepublics.net/
@snurb_dot_info
@jeanburgess
@_StephenH
@DrTNitins
@timhighfield
@cdtavijit
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/