After the earthquake in Haiti, the American Red Cross started to receive Twitter messages from people who had family members trapped under collapsed buildings—but the organization didn’t have a coordinated way to get that information to emergency personnel in Haiti who could actually help.
Suspecting that it wasn’t the only relief group receiving pleas for assistance through social networks, the Red Cross organized the Emergency Social Data Summit to bring together government officials, nonprofit leaders, and social-media experts to discuss how to handle information coming in through the Web during disasters.
Most of the meeting, which will take place on Thursday starting at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern time, will be streamed live over the Internet.
People interested in the topic can also follow the proceedings on a blog set up for the event or by using the Twitter hashtag #crisisdata.
In anticipation of the meeting, the Red Cross commissioned an online survey of 1,058 adults that asked them about their use of social media during times of crisis.
One in five survey participants said if they needed help during an emergency and weren’t able to get through to 911, they would try to get help by e-mail, Web sites, or social media.
Nearly seven out of 10 respondents—69 percent—said that emergency responders should monitor their Web sites and social-media sites for requests for help.
Nearly three-quarters of survey participants—74 percent—said they expected help to arrive within an hour.
0 Responses to The Role of Social Media in Disaster: New Survey and Forthcoming Meeting
jcravens42 - August 10, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Hope they will also be exploring how these tools have been used to spread MISinformation during disasters as well. http://blogs.forumer.com/jcravens/44031/the+power+of+tech+to+instantly%2C+easily+misinform.html
k5lund - August 12, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Fantastic discussion on Twitter (#crisisdata). Unfortunately the live stream is overwhelmed.Yes, jcravens42, there has been mention of misinformation, trust and verifying.
k5lund - August 13, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Someone reported that the live video stream crashed because 1,200 people tried to access it; the usual for a similar conference is 100 to 200.
petetheprophet - August 27, 2010 at 1:52 pm
The unemployment rate in Indiana is above 10.2%,(why) can’t we change the base period rule and policies to reflect with our current economy and situation. Most states are using old policies to decide on who would get a check ar not…The 21st century is about change and new technology, why not give the employer a tax break for starting a private account for their workers..So that if they should become unemployed, they would always have something to fall back on..Am part of an organization named The Seeds of Abraham, that would rather have a leader that would teach me how to fish..Then to give me a hand out, I’ve spent 30 years of my life..Working for corporations that have only failed in one way or another, for what every the reason may be…Now we are facing a weather war, and we can’t see any hope in our future.