Florian Roth, Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich,
[email protected] Jennifer Giroux, Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich,
[email protected]
Opportunities and Risks of Social Media in Disaster Management - A Swiss Perspective Paper prepared for the TIEMS conference "Public Alerting and Social Media during Crisis and Disasters" 30th October - 1st November 2013
Abstract: With the increasing use of social media applications, disaster and crisis management organizations are confronted with a challenging role: how to leverage social media to facilitate the spread of information and reach the public through various channels, while also addressing the issues that arise when false or contradictory information emerges. On the one hand, the volume and speed in which information moves across social media applications can significantly improve authorities’ situational awareness during crisis. On the other hand, coping with large quantities and varying quality of data requires considerable organizational investments. The paper aims to describe the major opportunities and risks of social media use in disaster management, with a particular focus on the Swiss context. We begin by reviewing different elements of crisis and risk communication in which social media can be employed. Building on crisis communication research and practice, we outline major opportunities and risks of social media that might be encountered at different stages of the crisis communication process. We also discuss recent efforts by Swiss disaster management authorities to utilize social media and meet the challenges of the information age. We find that many disaster management authorities are already using the new technologies to increase public awareness and preparedness for disasters, to alert the public, optimize situational disaster awareness, and speed up recovery processes thereafter. In general, social media increases the range and speed of official crisis and risk communication. However, employing social media as a new communication channel requires a redevelopment of existing communication strategies, in order to avoid the dissemination of premature or inaccurate information. A redesigned strategy should also address the new expectations among citizens in respect to the channels’ completeness, reliability and validity.
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1. Introduction Crisis communication represents a very dynamic field within disaster management. Capturing the state of the art in this domain is far from easy, as the ways in which people employ media during crisis are varied and continue to evolve. Yet, an emerging pattern has taken shape – one in which the shifts in the new media space have enabled various and multiple actors to use information communication technologies (ICT) and social media applications to communicate and share information across myriad platforms. Particularly during crisis situations, people no longer wait for official statements from government actors; rather they turn to the news media, they go to Twitter or Facebook, they log onto forums and blogs, etc., to access, provide and share information. In fact, hardly a day goes by showcasing yet another new example of someone or some organization using social media to respond to or mitigate the impacts of a disaster event. However, for authorities conditioned to one-way communication channels – where information traditionally flowed from authorities to the public – this shift has rendered certain challenges. Information now moves across and in-between multiple spaces and actors – creating tremendous volume. For authorities, the challenge not only comes with dealing with this volume, but perhaps more critically ensuring that information is verified during crisis situations and that rumours or misinformation is quickly dispelled. In such a dynamic information environment, governments need to have in place a social media strategy, especially for crisis situations. If it does not have such preparatory measures in place then it risks facing crisis communication pitfalls that can threaten its credibility. To get ahead of this curve, identifying the risks and opportunities of using social media is a critical first step to building a sound social media policy and identifying certain engagement guidelines. Currently, in most countries the legal and political frameworks for social media usage in disaster management are in their infancy. Besides clarifying these aspects, the most important steps ahead for governmental agencies in the realm of disaster management include developing a social media strategy that outlines what platforms or tools to utilize and how to use those platforms most effectively. Examining the risks and opportunities for the use of social media is particularly relevant for a country like Switzerland where statistics show that Internet usage is above 80%. As of 2012, there were nearly 3 million Facebook users (out of a population of roughly 8 million) and 500,000 twitter accounts in Switzerland, In addition, just as social media have played an increasingly important role in a variety of contexts and situations - like the 2012 Hurricane Sandy, 2010 earthquake in Haiti1 and the 2011 earthquake/tsunami in Japan,2 to name a few examples, - it is also finding a place in the Swiss context. Given these trends, it is important to examine the various ways in which social media is utilized in risk and crisis communication.
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Dunn Cavelty, M.; Giroux, J. (2011). Crisis Mapping: A Phenomenon and Tool in Complex Emergencies, CSS Analysis, No. 103. Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich: Zürich, http://www.css.ethz.ch/publications/pdfs/CSS-Analysis-103-EN.pdf. 2 Doktor, C. and Giroux, J. (2012). “The Changing Dynamics of Crisis Communication: Evidence from the Aftermath of the 2011 Tsunami in Japan”. Factsheet, Commissioned by the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP), Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich.
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2. Four main functions of social media in disaster management Risk and crisis communication can be conceptualized as consisting of four interconnected areas: monitoring and situational awareness; public preparedness; emergency warnings and requests for assistance; and finally recovery efforts. In combination, these four areas capture the role of engagement and strategy in both the risk and crisis space.3 As is shown in this following, today social media play an integral role in all these areas, putting pressure on disaster management authorities to adapt to the new crisis information environment.
2.1 Monitoring social media to increase situational awareness In recent years, private business organizations as well as governmental agencies have increasingly used social media as a resource to monitor their organizational environments as a way to inform communication strategies. Among professional risk and crisis communicators it can be considered a truism that successful risk and crisis communication requires a good knowledge about the information needs and feelings of the target audience. Therefore, two-way exchange has become a key resource for crisis management organizations. 4 Monitoring social media platforms thus becomes a convenient and relatively cheap option for organizations to increase their understanding of the needs, interests and sentiments of the public within different contexts. Take the American Red Cross for example, which uses social media platforms like blogs, Facebook, etc. to garner onthe-ground situational awareness. 5 In this way, monitoring technologies can also be used to identify crisis-related issues debated in online forums or within social networks.6 This information can then be used to develop a response. In this context, social media can be a particularly useful way to catch rumours and correct misinformation about a risk or a crisis event. Moreover, social media can be effective to evaluate an organization’s communication strategy.7 Monitoring public discourses on social media can contribute to answer key questions of organizational communication, such as “is our risk message understood by the audience?” or “why do many people not respond to a crisis according to our advice?” Since social media can be monitored mostly in real time, new insights can be quickly garnered and fed back into communication strategies.8 Obviously, it is impossible for any organization to monitor all risk and crisis-related communication that occurs in social media spaces, particularly not during times of emergency. In order to manage the torrent of information transfer during times of disaster, in recent years various social media monitoring software tools have been developed.9 While monitoring social media is already an established routine in many organizations, a rather recent trend is to utilize information gained from social media in crisis management processes directly. For example, crisis and emergency management organizations are integrating social 3
Lindsay, B. R. (2011). Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations, CRS Report for Congress, 7-5700, R41987, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R41987.pdf. 4 Covello, V. T., Sandman, P.M. (2001). Risk communication: Evolution and Revolution. In: Anthony Wolbarst (ed.): Solutions to an Environment in Peril, John Hopkins University Press, 164-178. 5 Warner, J.E. (2012). Social Media to the Rescue: The American Red Cross Story, Social Media Monthly, October 12, 2012, http://thesocialmediamonthly.com/social-media-to-the-rescue-the-american-red-crossstory/#sthash.VAai2M3Y.dpuf. 6 Heath, R.L. (2000). New communication technologies: An issues management point of view. In: Public Relations Review, 24, 3, 273–288. 7 Chung, I.J. (2011). Social Amplification of Risk in the Internet Environment. In: Risk Analysis, 31, 12, 18831896. 8 See e.g. Sriramesh, K. et al (2007). The role of ICTs in risk communication in Asia Pacific, in: Librero, Felix; Arinto, Patricia B. (eds.): Digital Review of Asia Pacific, Sage/IDRC, available: http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-127030201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. 9 For example, tools such as ‘Radian6’, ‘Sprout Social’ or ‘Buzzmetrics’ allow users to monitor the use of predefined keywords or analyze the valence of messages.
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media into situational awareness systems, which are increasingly being used in crisis situations.10 More recently, Flickr photo posts averaged 4,000 views daily during Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, which helped authorities broaden their awareness of the damage and impact from the storm.11 Such efforts are further supported by recent studies that show how geo-referenced twitter messages often have a high accuracy that allows them to be used for situational preparedness purposes.12 However, it is important to note that integrating social media into situational awareness does not come without challenges. First of all, despite the multitude of tools available, the integration of different data types into a single information system can be technically demanding and is currently a practice in its infancy. 13 The American Red Cross, for instance, has worked with Dell (corporation) to integrate a computer system to monitor social media – which is, in effect, large amounts of data – and automate the aggregation and categorization process.14 Of course it goes without saying that this has been a significant endeavor and investment for the organization. Beyond these rather technical challenges, a more fundamental problem could occur if situational awareness processes are misled by flawed information from social media. This raises the issue of validating and verifying data. As a recent study on Twitter use during floods in Thailand highlights, “[i]nformation that is false, outdated, or inaccurate could complicate situational awareness of a crisis and hence slow down relief efforts. For example, if the government plans to implement social media as a tool for disaster response, it would be well advised to prepare some measures or protocols that help officials verify incoming information and eliminate false information.” 15 Finally, the use of social media for situational awareness could possibly raise privacy issues. Even if the monitored data is public communication, citizens potentially could become afraid of state authorities playing “big brother” or in the case of more authoritarian regimes, being targeting or persecuted for providing information. 16 To avoid such allegations, authorities need clarify to how they collect, store, use and forward information gained from social media monitoring.
2.2 Preparing the public for potential disaster Ensuring or enhancing public safety and communicating risks is a constant process for government. As Coyle and Meier state in a 2009 report: “Meeting the information needs of communities before the onset of emergencies is an important way to build preparedness and resilience.”17 Experience shows that the process inherent in preparing the public and raising risk consciousness is not hindered, but rather benefits from the multiple information and 10
Many software tools used for situational awareness purposes, such as I/CAD, allow the integration of crowdsourced data through a OpenStreetMap plug-in. 11 Currie, Donya (2012): “Social Media and Risk Communication”, Situational Expert Round Table on Social Media and Risk Communication During Times of Crisis: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities, pg. 4. 12 See for example: Graham, M. et al (2012). Digital trails of the UK floods - how well do tweets match observations?, The Guardian Datablog, 28 November, available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/nov/28/data-shadows-twitter-uk-floods-mapped. 13 Rogstadius, J. et al (2011). Towards Real-time Emergency Response using Crowd Supported Analysis of Social Media, available: http://www.ee.oulu.fi/~vassilis/files/papers/chi11a.pdf. 14 See: http://www.redcross.org/news/press-release/The-American-Red-Cross-and-Dell-Launch-First-Of-Its-KindSocial-Media-Digital-Operations-Center-for-Humanitarian-Relief 15 Kongthon, A., Haruechaiyasak, C., Pailai, J., and Kongyoung, S. (2012). "The role of Twitter during a natural disaster: Case study of 2011 Thai Flood," Technology Management for Emerging Technologies (PICMET), 2012 Proceedings of PICMET, pp.2227-31. 16 Burns, A., & Eltham, B., (2009). Twitter Free Iran: An Evaluation of Twitter’s Role in Public Diplomacy and Information Operations in Iran’s 2009 Election Crisis. Paper presented at Communications Policy & Research Forum 2009. 17 Coyle, Diane and Patrick Meier (2009). New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information and Social Networks. Washington, D.C. and London, UK: UN Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Partnership.
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communication channels offered through ICT tools and the interactive nature of social media. It broadens the space in which government actors can reach out and engage the public, essentially creating a more nuanced approach that allows for customizable communication strategies to reach target groups. In terms of specific opportunities, using social media as part of risk communication and preparedness efforts is an excellent way to reach various segments of the population – particularly younger people, most of whom use such tools as a key source of information. Rather than waiting for a crisis to strike and then using social media to liaise with the public, it would behoove disaster management organizations to begin incorporating such tools into regular exchanges with the public as it provides the space to link into and build a network. Developing such a network during a crisis, certainly when time pressure is high, is not typically a top priority. 18 Moreover, social media can support informed risk decision-making processes and thereby foster public preparedness. To note, the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung, SLF) offers the “White Risk” app (provided in German, French, Italian and English), which is not particularly interactive, but rather a platform for users to access information on mountain conditions (snow and weather) as well as to assess the avalanche danger via the Danger Analyser, which helps users evaluate conditions and make informed risk-related decisions.19 In general, such efforts can result in a more aware and prepared public, which can then feed into crisis/disaster management efforts, mitigating adverse impacts (i.e. faster recovery). It is also worth highlighting that such examples showcase the ways in which governments are leveraging social media platforms to expand the reach of “conventional” media messages like videos, leaflets, information brochures, pictures and even games. Of course, using these platforms opens up the possibility of people commenting and interacting with these messages and also spreading the risk messages through their (personal) networks, which are often comprised of trusted sources such as friends, family, neighbors, etc.20 In other words, e.g. an emergency preparedness guideline shared by a good friend on Facebook will increase and multiply its reach. At the same time, some risks need to be considered when using social media to disseminate public safety and preparedness information. Arguably, the most significant risk is the lack of a social media policy or strategy, as discussed in the previous section. There must be clear guidelines in place to guide this process as well as trained professionals to manage the presence on various social media platforms. Given the quick, interactive nature of social media platforms, disaster management officials that either do not engage the social media space or, if they do, fail to provide regular postings and responses to public interactions, will risk their credibility. As Einhorn explains: “the public (including the news media) now expects to be able to find official government information on social media. Any agencies that are still treating their Facebook, Twitter and other social accounts as untended gardens will face an increasingly frustrated constituent base.” 21 A social media policy/strategy, as well as the appropriately designated manpower, can help avoid this risk. Another consideration is the risk of sending out mixed 18
International Risk Governance Council (2012). Social Media and Crisis Communication, Addressing the challenges of using social media to improve crisis communication and management. Concept Note, April 2012, http://www.irgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Final-Concept-note_Social_Media_v2-web.pdf. 19 See: Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (2012). White Risk app, http://www.slf.ch/ueber/organisation/warnung_praevention/projekte/white_risk_mobile/index_EN. 20 Cutter, S. and Barnes, K. (1982). “Evacuation Behavior and Three Mile Island.” Disasters, 6, no. 2: 116-124; T. Vihalemm, T., Kiisel, M. and Harro-Loit, H. (2012). Citizens’ Response Patterns to Warning Messages, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management Volume 20 Number 1 March 2012. 21 Einhorn, A.B. (2012). “7 Reasons Every Government Agency Needs a Social Media Policy,” Good Govt., 25 July 2012. http://blog.ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2012/07/25/7-reasons-every-governmentagency-needs-a-social-media-policy.aspx.
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messages. Utilizing more media platforms and tools to communicate to the public does not necessarily mean sending out different risk messages, but rather it’s about extending the reach of those messages and creating an echo effect. Of course, communication in social media has to be coordinated with the information activity on other platforms - and while different media channels can be used to communicate with different tones, the central messages should remain the same in order to keep up a “one voice” communication strategy. Given that messages sent out will likely render a response by users (i.e. the public), government actors should also coordinate responses. Uncoordinated responses to inquiries also raise certain risks, notably the credibility and impact of message dissemination.
2.3 Social media for alerts and requests for assistance Currently there are numerous examples of social media platforms being used by crisis and emergency response agencies. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention uses Twitter as a platform to communicate disease-related warnings to the public22 while the American Red Cross has a Tornado App for smartphones (Android and iOS), which provides alerts about tornadorelated hazards and provides helpful information.23 Obviously, the usage of social media to alert the public to natural hazards is of great interest to many stakeholders as it can provide some extra time for people to take precautions and get to safety before the storm strikes.24 In this context it appears pivotal that social media communication is coordinated with the general communication strategy of disaster management organizations. Alerts must be accurate and up-to-date, or else they lose their utility and credibility. In addition, because life and property can depend on this information, a strict “quality control” is necessary. This means that if social media sites are used as a communication channel for warnings and alerts, an adequately staffed and trained team is necessary to manage the system. A half-hearted approach will quickly become counter-productive and even increase the risks. Further, authorities have to consider the security risks of using social media, especially for critical communications like emergency warnings and alerts. If, for example, the social media account of the crisis management agency gets hacked, intruders could disseminate fraudulent information through this communication channel. This could have disastrous consequences. Finally, the implications of two-way communication must be considered, such as verifying warnings by users etc. Overall, though these risks they should not be exaggerated or serve as a deterrent. Just like the risks within the realm of traditional media, using social media during crises/disasters brings some risks but they appear to be manageable so long as necessary efforts are made to understand and mitigate them. Going beyond alerting functions, there is also the growing role of social media in requests for (emergency) assistance. While using the telephone (whether it is a landline or mobile phone) is still a prominent and popular way to call for assistance, there is some indication that people would like additional means to alert authorities. For example, a study by the American Red Cross revealed that 69% of the US population thinks that emergency response organizations should regularly monitor and respond to postings on their websites.25 In terms of the use of social media to communicate emergency warnings and alerts, three main opportunities can be identified. First, messages can quickly and easily reach a large audience as well as a certain increase of the diversity of people connected.26 An email blast, an alert that 22
See: https://twitter.com/CDCFlu. See: http://www.redcross.org/mobile-apps/tornado-app. 24 See: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20120827_oarsocalscienceawards.html. 25 American Red Cross (2010). Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies. August 5, 2010, slide 13. http://www.slideshare.net/wharman/social-media-in-disasters-and-emergencies-aug-5. 26 “Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies,” American Red Cross, August 5, 2010, slide 6. http://www.slideshare.net/wharman/social-media-in-disasters-and-emergencies-aug-5. 23
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comes via an App, or notification on Twitter, all provide a graded, nuanced and cost effective way to alert the public. Second, such tools can assist unprepared people by providing the necessary directives, such as the location of shelters or what roads to use.27 Of course, it remains up to the individual to act on such information. Needless to say, what must be acknowledged is the way in which networks work within social media – information travels through and between different people that are nested within trusted communities (such as families and friends, neighborhoods, etc.). In this respect, alerts and warnings find power and weight as they make their way across a network rather than exclusively from a governmental agency alone. This highlights the importance of interactivity and the power of the network in the social media space. And finally, social media allows for quick and up-to-date flow of information, which is an essential aspect of emergency warnings and alerts. Besides these advantages, there are obviously some associated risks. In particular, many point to the risk of inaccurate or malicious information (spoofing) made via social media tools and the potential that such inaccurate reports will spread or be duplicated. A 2011 study illustrates these risks as it found that rescue efforts after the Japan tsunami disaster in Japan were hampered by misleading and confusing tweets by people requesting assistance.28 However, it is important to note that whether people use social media or more "traditional" means (i.e. phone calls) to alert authorities both areas experience a slew of fake or false reports. 29 In other words, the way in which people interact with the media interface is similar across both mediums. To mitigate these risks, government actors need to consider how they will treat requests for assistance made through social media platforms. For example, what will the verification procedures look like? Will they treat every report the same as if it came through via telephone, or will they triangulate information with other media and individual reports? Also, how will they manage issues related to reputation management, such as if a user posts negative information or feedback about the response or assistance efforts?30 In sum, government agencies must consider these risks and mitigate them by developing a system to verify the authenticity and respond in a timely and coordinated manner.31
2.4 Speeding up recovery efforts using social media The challenges in the aftermath of a disaster are manifold and information is a fundamental part of a quick recovery. Disaster information is as important as water and food. 32 Organizations and people involved in the assistance efforts need to know where help is needed, how the aid can be brought to the people who need it and possibly also to counter further harm. Furthermore, a damage estimation is necessary, e.g. to request further help from other organizational and/or federal units and, in the worst case, from other countries. What are the opportunities in the area of recovery efforts after an emergency incident in using social media? First, the damage assessment can be improved. One option is visualizing the crisis space using crisis mapping platforms. By generating crowd-sourced crisis maps of inflicted damage based on user reports (which are commonly uploaded via mobile phones), the damage response teams can manage the disaster more effectively and quickly. This broad information base 27
Lindsay (2011). Acar, A., and Muraki, Y. (2011). “Twitter for Crisis Communication: Lessons Learnt from Japan's Tsunami Disaster,” International Journal of Web Based Communities, Vol.7, No.3, pp.392 – 402. 29 European Emergency Number Association (2011). “False Emergency Calls,” EENA Operations Document, 2011. http://www.eena.org/ressource/static/files/2011_03_15_3.1.2.fc_v1.0.pdf. 30 Huiji, G., Barbier, G., Goolsby, R. (2011). "Harnessing the Crowdsourcing Power of Social Media for Disaster Relief," Intelligent Systems, IEEE, vol.26, no.3, pp.10,14, May-June. 31 See: http://konradweber.ch/angebot/news-verifikation/. 32 Coyle and Meier (2009), p 17. 28
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adds valuable detection time, allows them to concentrate on actually dealing with the damage and also in assessing the need for any further assistance.33 Second, social media can help individuals with targeted recovery information. By using social media, disaster management agencies can inform the public where they can get assistance according to their specific needs, how they can apply for disaster loans and generally offer help and information during the recovery phase. They can also support the broad request for donations to help the affected people by increasing the reach of the campaign by the aid agencies and making the process of donating easier.34 Third, the use of social media platforms also encourages the self-organization of the affected population. Such assistance can offset workload and resource demands placed on governments during crises, and also reduce the timeframe in which this support can be brought to bear for the affected individuals. It is also possible to use social media to find displaced people and property in the aftermath of a natural disaster, thereby also reducing the necessary resources of official disaster agencies.35 In terms of the risks there are two core issues we identified. First, the self-help efforts by citizens can conflict, in the sense of duplication or mis-information, with the government response. For example, people creating Facebook groups offering information on lost persons or items may conflict with government efforts to do the same. Second, the risk of fraud and advantage-taking are a problem. Individuals could be tempted to take advantage of the situation and request more or other assistance than they actually need. This could damage other people in distress who would actually need the help more, but have lack of access to social media. Although this is a serious problem, it is not an exclusive aspect of using social media in the recovery efforts, but rather a common issue in every kind of emergency situation.
3. Social media in disaster management in Switzerland Switzerland is an interesting country to examine the impact that social media use is having on crisis (and even risk) management strategies. On the one hand its civil protection system engages a broad base of the population however, bottom-up engagement efforts are not that well established. Though different Swiss authorities have recognized the potentials of social media within the realm of risk and crisis communication, its implementation is disparate and in many cases being actively debated. Perhaps delaying this effort is simply the infrequency of large disasters within Switzerland. If we recall the examples highlighted in this paper, the use of social media in large disasters has typically come from other countries and was revealed as a type of emergent behavior – a byproduct of response efforts. The Swiss authorities thus have an opportunity to get ahead of the curve and incorporate social media into strategies before a large disaster event occurs. Having a policy or strategy in place will mitigate the risks and leverage the opportunities discussed herein. As for concrete examples of local social media use in Switzerland, the Zurich police service has established Twitter as a fast and informal tool to communicate with the city’s public, complementing its other, more traditional communication channels. On the national level, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) serves a good example of an organization that has early incorporated social media into its communicative approach, using RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube as well as other platforms with success. 36 Due to these overall positive 33
Homeland Security News Wire (2011). How smartphones are fighting floods: http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/how-smartphones-are-fighting-floods. 34 See for example: http://www.imore.com/donate-red-cross-hurricane-sandy-relief-directly-app-store. 35 See Coyle and Meier (2009), chapter 5. 36 For example, following an emergency shutdown in a power plant in Mühleberg in February 2012, ENSI was able to quickly correct false information using its organizational Twitter account, see: Roth, F.; Brönnimann, G.
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experiences of what we refer to as the “early adopter” organizations, disaster management in Switzerland is currently in the stage of broadening and standardizing the use of social media in risk and crisis communication on all levels. Several reasons speak for such an integrative step. First of all, many organizations relevant for disaster management simply do not have the capacities and resources to effectively use social media on their own. Often, these organizations are also unable to produce important public communication content on a regular basis, making them easily irrelevant for social media users.37 Integrating different authorities’ communication efforts can bring considerable synergies in that respect. Second, due to the high speed of social media, in particular in times of crisis, it is hard for the different organizations engaged in disaster management to use these tools without producing incoherent messages. Only by developing a joint social media communication strategy for all disaster management authorities, from the local to the national level, contradicting communication can be avoided. At the same time, this ongoing process of integrating authorities’ communication efforts is strongly characterized by the specific structural as well as cultural features of the Swiss civil protection system. In particular, it is important to keep in mind that in Switzerland crisis management is strongly decentralized, primarily in the hands of the Cantons. To note, the 26 Cantons not only differ considerably in respect to the disaster risks that they face, but also regarding the stage of development when it comes to the use of modern information and communication technologies. Besides the federal partition, specialized institutions, such as the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) or the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) add to the complexity of the system. In the past, coordination between these different federal and Cantonal authorities regarding public communication efforts has mostly taken place on an ad hoc basis.38 Only in few policy fields relevant for disaster management – for example nuclear accidents – there are clear communication mechanisms and strategies in place on a national level that provide a solid basis for an unified and effective use of social media in the context of disaster management in Switzerland. To overcome these deficits and improve coordination and cooperation mechanisms, Swiss authorities have recently undertaken reinforced measures that aim to bring the different relevant actors together and develop new approaches that suit today’s dynamic information environment. In general, these activities are all based on the principles of voluntariness and cooperation. A good example in this respect poses a recent workshop on the use of crowdsourced geo-information in disaster management, co-hosted by the CSS at ETH Zurich and supported by the Federal Office of Civil Protection. The workshop brought together a variety of stakeholders, including geospecialists, media professionals, civil protection officials and other experts in the field, to participate in an open dialogue. As the workshop illustrated, realizing the potential of crowdsourced crisis mapping for professional disaster and crisis management remains a challenge on many levels. In addition to technical problems such as inadequate data standards and interfaces, there are legal issues that need to be clarified – over the use of proprietary geo-information, for example. Established institutional routines and identities are also an obstacle, as they often resist new forms of collaboration. For example, many disaster management and geo-information experts traditionally put strong emphasis on the reliability and precision of their data. In times of social media, these principles need to be increasingly balanced against the need for timely information.
(2013). Using the Internet for Public Risk Communication, Focal Report 8, Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich: 21. 37 See: Ruckli, C. (2013). Social Media Strategien für die Ereigniskommunikation des Schweizer Bevölkerungsschutzes, Unpublished Analysis, Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz, June 24, 2013. 38 See: Ruckli, C. (2013): 5.
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4. Conclusion ICT and social media applications, in particular, disrupt traditional approaches to disaster management – injecting new and additional actors into the crisis communication and information sharing mix. And, as noted, while risks exist when incorporating social media into disaster management they are manageable, especially when there is a strategy in place. In fact, one could argue that the greater risk is not incorporating or paying any attention to the social media wave and the social behavior it illuminates during crisis situations. Although instances of online self-organization and using social media in crisis situations have remained a rare phenomenon in Switzerland – perhaps partly attributed to the rarity of crises in the country - it is expected that with the further spread of ICT the issue will become of increased importance in the next years. In turn, the government has recognized this shift and has thus begun to participate in forums that discuss the risks and opportunities of using social media as well as support further research and analysis in this area. Looking ahead, the Swiss government is following the lead of other countries such as the UK and the US, to name a few, in incorporating social media into their crisis and disaster management. Though, to re-iterate – this process is at its infancy in Switzerland. On a more critical level, the government needs to examine the ways in which leveraging social media can by used for all areas and activities that it is already involved, from monitoring and situational awareness, over public preparedness, emergency warnings and requests for assistance to recovery efforts. Of course, to fully understand the risks and opportunities, efforts must be allocated to enhancing the understanding of the underlying behavioural patterns. In other words, today’s knowledge of self-help or self-organizing processes in crisis situations remains limited. Before diving into developing a full-blown strategy research is needed to fully understand the various ways in which the Swiss population is using social media in various situations and note the distinctions during crisis situations, regardless of scale or size. Based on such a comprehensive analysis, a social media strategy could be created that integrates into existing strategies of crisis management on different administrative levels. This would of course tie into existing efforts of monitoring and building situational awareness, emergency preparedness, etc., by recognizing the additional resource and assets that social media applications bring to the table. The goal should be to strengthen the communicative structures available in the case of a crisis, while keeping these structures flexible and adaptive at the same time. As Sellnow and Seeger (2002) note, such a flexible approach to crisis communication can contribute to societal resilience. “Maintaining flexible, responsive and resilient channels of communication during disasters clearly should be a priority of crisis managers. Moreover, emergency managers should understand the role of such systems in crisis logistics, in re-establishing normalcy and community, and as a force in subsequent self-organization.”39 In other words, they should understand not only the behavior but also the associated opportunities.
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Sellnow, T., Seeger, M., & Ulmer, R. R. (2002). Chaos theory, informational needs and the North Dakota floods. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 30(3), 269–292:. 289.
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