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A European Perspective on Crisis InformaticsCitizens’ Perception of Social Media in Emergencies in Europe

A European Perspective on Crisis Informatics: Citizens’ Perception of Social Media in Emergencies... [Social media is increasingly being used during emergencies. Most available studies focus on how citizens and/or authorities use social media during specific events. However, larger quantitative studies with significant results on citizens’ attitudes, needs, and future plans in such events are not available—especially such of a comparative nature related to emergency services. This chapter first presents the findings of a survey of 1,034 citizens across 30 European countries conducted between February and June 2015 to explore citizens’ attitudes towards the use of social media for private purposes and specifically in emergency situations. The work briefly compares these findings with a second survey conducted with 761 emergency service staff across 32 European countries from September to December 2014. Based on these findings, and assuming that social media usage during emergencies and respective perceptions varies across countries we then present the results of our representative survey of 7,071 citizens in Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom). It shows differences of current use of social media in emergencies, expectations towards authorities monitoring social media, intensity of perceived barriers regarding the use, as well as variances concerning the (likelihood of future) use of mobile apps. While German and British participants’ frequency of use of social media is medium and low, respectively, Italian and Dutch respondents use social media relatively frequently. Our comparison of the four countries allows for an interpretation of divergent behaviour across countries with respect to risk cultures as well as expanding the respective model to social media contexts. Concerning social media usage, our findings stress that across the four European countries participants assessed similar advantages, such as dissemination of information, and barriers, such as false rumours. Distributed equally across nations, age, and gender, the study showed significant relationships with social media usage which, among other findings, suggests being helpful for effective implementation of management structures using new technologies.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A European Perspective on Crisis InformaticsCitizens’ Perception of Social Media in Emergencies in Europe

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Publisher
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2022
ISBN
978-3-658-39719-7
Pages
109 –158
DOI
10.1007/978-3-658-39720-3_4
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Social media is increasingly being used during emergencies. Most available studies focus on how citizens and/or authorities use social media during specific events. However, larger quantitative studies with significant results on citizens’ attitudes, needs, and future plans in such events are not available—especially such of a comparative nature related to emergency services. This chapter first presents the findings of a survey of 1,034 citizens across 30 European countries conducted between February and June 2015 to explore citizens’ attitudes towards the use of social media for private purposes and specifically in emergency situations. The work briefly compares these findings with a second survey conducted with 761 emergency service staff across 32 European countries from September to December 2014. Based on these findings, and assuming that social media usage during emergencies and respective perceptions varies across countries we then present the results of our representative survey of 7,071 citizens in Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom). It shows differences of current use of social media in emergencies, expectations towards authorities monitoring social media, intensity of perceived barriers regarding the use, as well as variances concerning the (likelihood of future) use of mobile apps. While German and British participants’ frequency of use of social media is medium and low, respectively, Italian and Dutch respondents use social media relatively frequently. Our comparison of the four countries allows for an interpretation of divergent behaviour across countries with respect to risk cultures as well as expanding the respective model to social media contexts. Concerning social media usage, our findings stress that across the four European countries participants assessed similar advantages, such as dissemination of information, and barriers, such as false rumours. Distributed equally across nations, age, and gender, the study showed significant relationships with social media usage which, among other findings, suggests being helpful for effective implementation of management structures using new technologies.]

Published: Nov 13, 2022

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