With social media being a key source for information and news, companies need to pay careful attention to it when crafting their messages after a disaster. A new study, published in Risk Analysis, suggest that this careful review of social media messages can provide key information to help those in decision making positions to better understand the impact on their communities and the needs of residents.
Says the study, which was based on the analysis of more than six million Twitter messages after three major hurricanes, “Natural disasters leave behind thousands of lives and billions of dollars lost, but also billions of dollars needed to rebuild communities. If we can identify those communities, and their needs, then rebuilding efforts will become more focused. Additionally, suppose business leaders work with the communities before disasters to strengthen the community’s social cohesion.”
Says Jose E. Ramirez-Marquez, associated professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, and one of the study’s authors, of the importance of this analysis, “If we had a national database of the social media communications pre-during-post disaster then we would be able to better identify the needs of a community and the limitations of current policy and response.”
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