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Can Social Media Help During Disasters?

You are here: Home / Social Media Articles / Can Social Media Help During Disasters?

June 4, 2013 //  by Mike Allton

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Over the past 30 years, the United States has endured many natural disasters each year, including earthquakes, wildfires, storms, floods and extreme heat. The impact of these disasters is incredibly high, affecting over 800,000 people each and every year. And during the most severe circumstances, as homes are destroyed and families are separated, traditional lines of communication are typically blocked. Phone lines becomes damaged, electricity delivery is interrupted, and cell phone carriers are overwhelmed. As a result, and more and more people are turning to the Internet, and Social Media specifically, for both news and information during a crisis.

As a form of Disaster Response, Social Media is coming to the fore. According to the infograph below from Frankie Rendón, in a study by the Red Cross, 76% of respondents had used social media to determine whether or not a loved one was safe after a disaster, and an additional 25% had gone on to download a diaster-related app of some kind. 24% of respondents had actually been in a disaster and had used social media to let loved ones know they were safe.

Perhaps more stunning is that during the recent disasters that were included in these studies, a fifth of the survivors had used social media, websites or email to contact emergency responders, as opposed to calling 911, and 44% actually asked their friends and contacts online to get a hold of responders!

Not so many years ago, these people would have had no options at all.

And Americans expect that this will work. In fact, 80% of us believe that emergency respondents should and are monitoring social media and other Internet sources. Fortunately, they are. Both here in the U.S. and abroad.

During Hurricane Sandy, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) actually tweeted, “Phone lines may be congested during/after #Sandy. let loved ones know you’re OK by sending a text or updating your social networks.” And 23 Red Cross staffers monitored 2.5 million Sandy-related social media postings, and tagged 4,500 of those updates for officials to follow-up on, getting aid to those who needed it.

Hurricane Sandy is just one of several recent disasters mentioned in the infograph below, including 2011’s deadly tornado season, Japan’s tsunami on March 11, 2011, and Haiti’s earthquake in 2010. The two non-U.S. disasters are included to demonstrate the global impact that social media is having on disaster response, and how people around the world unite behind a common cause whenever disaster strikes, no matter where it is.

SOCIAL MEDIA: The new face of disaster response.

What do you think about the growing role of social media in disasters? Do you think it’s helpful that so much news and information is being disseminated in this way, or do you fear the inevitable inaccuracies and outright scams that crop up? Have you ever used social media during a disaster, either as a victim or as someone looking for information or ways to help?

Infograph credit to USF’s Online MPA at: http://onlinempa.usfca.edu/social-media/
Red Cross monitoring image courtesy of phoenixar, Flickr.

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About Mike Allton

Mike Allton is a Content Marketing Practitioner – a title he invented to represent his holistic approach to content marketing that leverages blogging, social media, email marketing and SEO to drive traffic, generate leads, and convert those leads into sales. He is an award-winning Blogger, Speaker, and Author, and Head of Strategic Partnerships at Agorapulse.

Mike is a Virtual Event Consultant and has partnered with Jenn Herman, Stephanie Liu, Amanda Robinson and Eric Butow to write Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing published by Entrepreneur Press.

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Mike Allton is a Virtual Event Strategist, and an award-winning blogger, speaker, and author at The Social Media Hat, where he has been educating businesses and organizations on the best use of content marketing for reaching and converting target audiences. Mike is proud to serve as the Head of Strategic Partnerships at Agorapulse, where he builds relationships with influencers and brands around the world.

Since 2012, Mike has has spearheaded hundreds of live shows and virtual events, reaching tens of thousands of potential customers on behalf of represented brands. He has established a reputation for being able to explain complex tools or topics in easy to understand ways, all while bringing a necessary sense of overall brand strategy and business purpose.

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