Social media a new source of information in disasters

August 26, 2011 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie

Even before Hurricane Irene is expected to batter South Jersey, the storm is making waves across social media sites.

From the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Cherry Hill and Gloucester Township, officials are posting updates on the storm’s track and safety tips on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Minutes after much of the East Coast rumbled from a 5.8-magnitude earthquake Tuesday, millions turned to networking sites to see what had happened — or to post 140-character wisecracks.

According to media reports, within a minute of the quake there were more than 40,000 earthquake-related tweets. The rate of tweets hit about 5,500 per second, more than in the hours following Osama Bin Laden’s death.

“Social media has become the primary mode of communication,” said Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, a professor of marketing at Rutgers School of Business-Camden.

Kaufman-Scarborough, who has studied hurricanes and emergency management in Florida, said social media sites enable residents in a disaster to quickly get in touch with family and friends.

After Tuesday’s earthquake, phone systems jammed — as often happens after a disaster — while people checked on loved ones. But Internet access remained available, Kaufman-Scarborough said.

“Facebook provides a great opportunity to find multiple people at the same time,” she said. “It has a tremendous advantage for emergency management for the average person.”

Social media sites have also become a tool for law enforcement and emergency management officials.

Kaufman-Scarborough said some areas in the South have developed in-depth hurricane emergency management tutorials on sites such as Facebook.

“They felt it could be a very effective way to alert people.”

Although South Jersey doesn’t face nearly the level of threats from natural disasters as other regions, municipalities, including Cherry Hill, sent out tweets to residents shortly after the quake.

Officials there have already begun tweeting and posting information on Facebook about Hurricane Irene.

Cherry Hill spokesman Dan Keashen said the township will continue to send out messages during the upcoming storm.

“We want to give residents the standard, frank information they are going to need.”

Gloucester Township Police and New Jersey State Police also are utilizing Twitter. State police send out messages for the state’s Office of Emergency Management.

Gloucester Township police are encouraging residents there to sign up for Global Connect, the department’s emergency notification system. A link to the system, which can send text and email alerts, can be found on the township’s website.

Keashen said social networking sites have helped inform residents almost instantly on everything from traffic problems to the recent earthquake.

“It allows us to give residents up-to-the-minute and sometimes up-to-the-second updates concerning on what’s happening around the township, what areas have been affected and how we’re responding.”

“At the end of the day, elected officials aren’t worth a grain of salt if they can’t communicate with their constituents and this gives us another avenue to drive that communication.”

Reach George Mast at (856) 486-2465 at gmast@camden.gannett.com