The current world population is 7.6 billion among which 2.62 billion are connected with social media. The power of social media is such that the number of worldwide users is expected to reach some 3.02 billion monthly active social media users by 2021, around a third of Earth’s entire population. Social media have an enormous impact on its users influencing their behavior, communicative approach, decision making , way of thinking , views , norms and culture. Social media provide the opportunity for the users to get contacted with diversified knowledge, information and incidents which make them aware of multiple facts.

1. ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON
COMMUNITY AWARENESS

2. The current world population is 7.6 billion among which 2.62
billion are connected with social media.
The power of social media is such that the number of worldwide
users is expected to reach some 3.02 billion monthly active social
media users by 2021, around a third of Earth’s entire population.
Social media have an enormous impact on its users influencing
their behavior, communicative approach, decision making , way of
thinking , views , norms and culture.
Social media provide the opportunity for the users to get contacted
with diversified knowledge, information and incidents which make
them aware of multiple facts.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND
COMMUNITY AWARENESS
BUILDING
Generically speaking, social media can be defined as “a form of new media
that facilitates social interaction and communication through the use of
online internet-based platforms.”
On the basis of content sharing features social media platforms can be
categorized into the following:
• Social Networking.
• Blog and Microblogging.
• Photo Sharing.
• Video Sharing.
• Instant Messaging.

4. SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social networking is the use of internet-based social media programs to make
connections with friends, family, classmates, customers and clients.
Social networking can occur for community awareness purposes through sites
such as Facebook, Google+, VK, Odnoklassniki, LinkedIn and so on. Contents
are mainly text, images, notes, video clip etc.
In this platform an user can come in contact with various organizations and
groups.

5. COMMUNITY AWARENESS
BUILDING THROUGH SOCIAL
NETWORKING
Figure: Building Community awareness through social networks

6. BLOG AND MICROBLOGGING
• A blog is a discussion or informational website published on
the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often
informal diary-style text entries ("posts").
• Microblogging is an online broadcast medium that exists as
a specific form of blogging. A microblog differs from a
traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both
actual and aggregated file size. Microblogs allow users to
exchange small elements of content such as short
sentences, individual images, or video links. These small
messages are sometimes called microposts.

7. COMMUNITY AWARENESS BUILDING
THROUGH BLOG AND MICROBLOGGING
Fig: Community Awareness building through blog and microblogging

8. PHOTO SHARING
• Users are able to share photos which can describe thousand of
sentences in a figure. Often some photos gone viral which can
be very important for raising awareness of a community.
• The largest representative of social media Facebook also has
photo sharing feature. Besides Facebook, some of the major
photo sharing sites are Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr etc.

9. COMMUNITY AWARENESS
BUILDING THROUGH
PHOTO SHARING

10. VIDEO SHARING
• Video sharing sites play a significant role on community
awareness building through video contents like short film,
training footage, rescue program, informative speech etc.
• The leading video sharing platforms are Youtube, Facebook
Live, DailyMotion, Vimeo etc.

11. COMMUNITY AWARENESS BUILDING
THROUGH VIDEO SHARING

12. INSTANT MESSAGING
• This is the latest addition of social media which works through
the application software.
• Some major instant messaging apps are Whatsapp,
Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Skype, IMO, SnapChat etc.
• These instant messaging apps help to spread an information
instantly from one place to another with the help of the
internet connection where distance is not matter.
• Users are able to form a group which can help them to
organize an awareness building campaign, decision making,
volunteer team forming etc.

13. COMMUNITY AWARENESS
BUILDING THROUGH
INSTANT MESSAGING APPS

14. HOW YOU CAN USE
SOCIAL MEDIA TO RAISE
AWARENESS
• When you care about a political, environmental, or social
cause, you want the rest of the world to be as enthusiastic
as you are. Whether you work for a non-profit, are starting
your own awareness campaign, or simply want more people
to know about your cause, social media is a fantastic
awareness-raising tool. As long as you use it effectively, you
can spread the word through sites like Facebook and Twitter.

15. Clarify Your Message
• Controlling your image is important when you’re trying to leverage
social media to raise awareness. Start by clarifying your message:
whom or what is your cause helping? What are you trying to
achieve, and how well are you meeting those goals? Your first
pieces of content should be focused on providing answers to
these questions.
• Use YouTube, which is a marvelous resource for activists
because it’s free and easy to use. Draw attention to your cause
when you post short, to-the-point videos that illustrate the problem
you’re facing and the ways you’re attempting to tackle it. Make
sure to edit your videos using an inexpensive but effective video
editing software like VSDC. Include ways viewers can help at the
end of the video.

16. CREATE SHARABLE
CONTENT
• The information that gets circulated through Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram has to be easy to digest while readers are scrolling
through a feed. When you’re trying to leverage your supporters to
share your message, start with something simple: a short video or
a photo with a quotation. While cute animal pages can get away
with grainy photos and shaky videos, you want yours to look more
professional, so make sure you’re using a reliable and quality
digital camera, and not your smartphone to take attractive photos.
• Awareness for your cause is important, and you want everyone to
know what you’re about. But keep it simple and sharable when
you’re posting to social media; people who come across these
posts can click through and investigate your cause’s Facebook
page or website, where you can give a longer explanation of what
you stand for.

17. ASK FOR PARTICIPATION
• One great way to encourage people to repost and share
your content is to ask them to engage with it. Post a photo
with a question under it. Create polls for your new followers
to answer. When you’re ready to make big changes, like
undergoing a website renovation or hosting your first large
event, ask your followers for their opinions first. They’ll feel
engaged and have the sense that they’re part of something.

18. MAKE DONATING SIMPLE
• Whether you’re using social media to promote a fundraising event
or you’re publicizing a link to a fundraising page directly through
social media, supporters should be able to donate to your cause
easily and safely. Keep the momentum you’ve gained by accepting
donations through multiple channels.
• If you’re taking donations in person, a Square magstripe reader will
help you take credit and debit cards. Square, Inc. will send you a
reader free of charge when you sign up for their credit card
processing service. Online, many websites and platforms make it
easy for nonprofits to ask for donations and for donors to start
giving. Explore sites like Qgiv, Causes, and FirstGiving. If you’re
fundraising for a specific event, check out GoFundMe, one of the
most popular fundraising sites.

19. INVOLVE PEOPLE IN
MULTIPLE WAYS
• Not everyone has the money to donate to worthy causes, but many
of those people still want to find a way to help. In 2014, the ALS Ice
Bucket Challenge had marketers scrambling to copy what turned
into a viral sensation. The reason the Ice Bucket Challenge
deserves a mention here is because it gave people an option:
donate a certain amount of money, or post a video. The videos
were the viral component fueling the campaign, which meant that
even those who could only donate their actions (having a bucket of
ice dumped all over themselves) were still spreading the word and
helping.
• Keep tweaking your social media strategy and sharing things until
you find a formula that works for you. Once you gain momentum in
raising awareness, getting likes and shares will be easier.
Good luck!

20. In contrast to traditional forms of media, which are typically
limited in reach and restricted to the place of performance,
social media tools are able to broadly overcome these barriers
because of five characteristics that differentiate them from other
forms of traditional media:
Collectivity: The collective nature of social media serves to
connect people across geographical boundaries and time zones
via common platforms, to foster the growth of online
communities with similar interests;

21. Connectivity: Unlike other forms of media or
communications, social media is able to connect users to
other resources through the sharing of web links;
Completeness: Social media is able to capture
contributions and keep them in a persistent state for
others to view and share;
Clarity: Content on social media websites is usually highly
visible, with participating people aware of each other’s
activities and content posted;
Collaboration: People are encouraged to share and
contribute in areas they are interested in, by gathering
information and providing feedback.

22. HARNESSING SOCIAL
MEDIA TO AUGMENT
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
CAPABILITIESCrises are complex in nature, have disproportionate
effects and can move at varying speeds. By
harnessing the characteristics of the social media tools,
organizational capacity to demonstrate resilience in
response to crises can be significantly enhanced by
creating new avenues for collaboration to help build
more resilient communities over time
Social media tools can also be used in enhancing a
community’s capacity in anticipating and preparing for
crisis.

23. Application of Social Media tools
across Crisis Management Phases
Crisis management can be broadly
divided into three phases:
(1)crisis preparedness,
(2) crisis response,
(3) crisis recovery

24. CRISIS
PREPAREDNESS
During the crisis preparedness
phase, the focus is on preventive
activities that seek to reduce known
risks that could lead to a crisis.
Recognizing that not all crises can
be averted, there would be an
equal focus in this phase on crisis
management planning and training
of the crisis management team;

25. CRISIS RESPONSE
• During crisis response, the focus will be on the speed
and effectiveness of the initial response. There will be
a need for quick situational awareness to help
authorities respond effectively after the crisis hits. The
effective use of social media tools will be critical
during this phase to engage community networks in
order to gather, analyze and disseminate information in
a timely manner;

26. CRISIS RECOVERY
• the crisis recovery phase requires longer term planning
and support to restore the situation back to normalcy.

27. Social Media Functions
•Information dissemination.
•Disaster planning and training
•Collaborative problem solving
and decision making
•Information gathering
Across three stages of crisis
management social media are
used.

28. FIGURE 1: SOCIAL MEDIA
FUNCTIONS FOR CRISIS
MANAGEMENT

29. Information dissemination
Information dissemination
through social media tools is an
effective means to provide
reliable information quickly to
the public to enable them to
better prepare for and respond
to crises.

30. Disaster planning and
training
It includes use of social media for
disaster planning and training to
promote personnel training, scenario
planning and collaboration between
various crisis management agencies
from the public sector, private sector
and civil society organizations.

31. Collaborative problem solving
and decision making
Crowd-sourcing using social media
facilitates collaborative problem
solving and decision making by
integrating various streams of
information from mobile and web-
based technologies to fill the
perceived sense-making and
information gaps as well as to
aggregate, analyze and plot data

32. Information gathering
On-the-scene footage, citizen
journalism and disaster
assessment are central to
information gathering for
coordinating crisis response.

33. SOCIAL MEDIA
SIGNIFICANCE ON
COMMUNITY AWARENESS
• There are numerous significance in participating in
community awareness activities using social media but there
are still some disadvantages to know about as well. Social
media is a powerful tool used by the community and the
masses because of its features and abilities to spread the
word out to a significant amount of people in a timely
manner.
• Social media platforms are free and easy to get started with,
giving the community and other officials a powerful
communications tool and resource without having to really
spend a lot of money aside from the costs of a computer and
internet service. Let’s take a look at some of the features of
having a social media based community awareness
system…

34. POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE
• Warning Information
• Awareness Promotion
• Increased knowledge
• Deeper awareness
• Greater appreciation
• Larger interest
• Building relationships
• Networking opportunities
• Enhancing our goodwill and image

35. NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE
• Rumor – During a disaster situation, one of the worst
potential problems that exists is the spread of false rumors.
Imagine that a propane storage facility had an explosion due
to a simple accident caused by a worker. There was no foul
play involved, just simply human error. Now imagine the
news and internet reporting that rumors are being spread
that the explosion was the result of terrorists and that the
suspects are still on the loose. This could create widespread
panic if not dealt with in a timely manner.

36. • Negative Feedback – Often times, social media is full of
negative feedback and comments from fans of social pages.
If people feel that a disaster or event was handled poorly,
there will often express their distaste on social media
causing debates and arguments to take place. If the
emergency management official removes the negative
feedback, it will make them and their community look bad as
if they are attempting to hide something. The best practices
for dealing with this sort of thing is by responding
professionally with accurate solutions to the arguments. If a
negative conversation has turned into abuse, it should be
stopped and removed but it is important to be able to
interpret what is abuse and what is simply negative
feedback. If negative feedback isn’t dealt with in a timely
manner though, rumor control practices will likely have to
take place in the end.

37. CONCLUSION
• With increasingly more individuals using their mobile
phones to go online worldwide, surpassing time spent
on traditional media such as television, radio and print,
it would be essential to carefully consider how social
media applications can be incorporated into an
integrated crisis management platform for effective
crisis management. Leveraging social media
technologies for crisis management provide citizens
with a greater role in preparing for and managing
crises which will help build resilient communities.
Embracing resilience as a civic value and a social
norm should ultimately be the way forward to
encourage citizens to take the actions necessary to
help themselves and others during times of crisis