Public agencies and emergency managers are increasingly using social media to keep the public informed during a crisis. However, despite the good understanding of the adoption of these technologies, there is little understanding of what extent social media platforms are used for communication during times of crisis. Inquest to understand the extent of social media usage during an emergency, in 2018, Stephen R. Neely and Matthew Collins carried out a survey in Florida on social media and crisis communications. This essay analyzes their study report, Social Media and Crisis Communications: A Survey of Local Governments in Florida . The essay will focus on outlining the purpose and hypotheses of the study, identifying the variables of the study, summarizing the study findings, describing any limitation to the study, and using the study conclusion to offer suggestions to crisis managers.
The purpose of the study conducted by Neely and Collins (2018) was to provide an experiential investigation of social media usage by the municipalities in Florida State. The authors also sought to examine the demographic and organizational factors influencing the adoption of social media during emergencies and crisis. After analyzing the findings and the discussion of the study, it is clear that the authors were able to serve the purpose of the study. The researchers were able to identify that public agencies in Florida are lagging in the embracing and utilization of social media during crisis communications and that they established that organizational and demographic factors such as the age of the population served to affect the adoption of social media.
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The study proposed five hypotheses on the issue of social media adoption during emergency communications. The first hypothesis proposed by the study is that the rates of usage of social media during crisis are behind the federal rates. The second hypothesis is that local agencies commonly use Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube platforms to communicate to the public (Neely & Collins, 2018). The third hypothesis is that the agencies with higher budgets are likelier to use social media in managing emergencies. The fourth is that the local agencies that serve young populations were more likely to use social media to inform the public during a crisis. The fifth hypothesis is that local agencies that serve a more educated population are likelier to use social media during crisis management.
The dependent variables in the study Facebook, Twitter, 4square, Blog sites, LinkedIn, YouTube, and any other social media platforms. On the other hand, the independent variables are municipal payroll, population density, and median home values, and home incomes (Neely & Collins, 2018). Other independent variables include median age, population percentage with a degree, and the proportion of the population of non-White. The researchers conceptualized and operationalized social media in the research by outlining the information gaps in its adoption during crisis management. It also highlighted that factors that affect the use of social media during crisis management by local agencies.
The study's findings were that social media usage is relatively limited since 50.6% of the local agencies reported that they never use social media to communicate during crises and emergencies. In addition, only 28.9 % of the local agencies use two or more social media platforms to communicate during a crisis (Neely & Collins, 2018), making the researchers conclude that usage of social media by local municipalities is prevalent but not yet universal. On the first hypothesis, the study found that local municipalities in Florida lag in the adoption of social media usage during crisis to inform the public (Neely & Collins, 2018). On the second hypothesis, it found that the commonly used platform used by the local municipalities is Facebook (49.4%), followed by Twitter (27.7%), then the other platforms (10%). It also established that none of the municipalities used 4square (Neely & Collins, 2018). The study found that large municipalities are likelier to embrace social media usage on the third hypothesis. The research established that cities serving young populations are likely to embrace social media on the fourth hypothesis. In contrast, on the fifth hypothesis, the study established that municipalities serving an educated population have a higher likelihood of using social media to disseminate information during a crisis.
In evaluating the study, emergency managers should consider study limitations such as county-level date rather than city-level data in the research. The county-level aggregations of demographic data raise concern over the validity of the data. The best data should have been from the local governments.
Based on the conclusion, in the future, emergency managers should access their populations to determine their age and education level to determine the effectiveness of using social media to communicate during a crisis. In addition, they should invest more in social media as it offers benefits such as broad reach, fast communication, and instant replies and interactions with the public (Xu, 2020). Further, emergency managers should use commonly used platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate to the public.
In conclusion, the essay has established that the purpose of the study by Stephen R. Neely and Matthew Collins was to provide an analysis of usage of social media and examine the demographic and organizational factors that affect the adoption of social media by the local municipalities in Florida State. It has also highlighted the five hypotheses of the study and the findings that have confirmed the study's hypotheses. Additionally, it has outlined the dependent and independent variables of the study. Finally, it has offered suggestions based on the survey to emergency managers.
References
Neely, S. R., & Collins, M. (2018). Social media and crisis communications: A survey of local governments in Florida. Journal of homeland security and emergency management , 15 (1).
Xu, J. (2020). Does the medium matter? A meta-analysis on using social media vs traditional media in crisis communication. Public Relations Review , 46 (4), 101947.
