Abstract
In recent times societal crises such as the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak have given rise to a tension between formal ‘command and control’ and informal social media activated self-organising information and communication systems that are utilised for crisis management decision-making. Social media distrust affects the dissemination of disaster information as it entails shifts in media perception and participation but also changes in the way individuals and organisations make sense of information in critical situations. So far, a little considered notion in this domain is the concept of sense-giving. Originating from organisational theory, it is used to explain the mechanisms behind intentional information provision that fosters collective meaning creation. In our study, we seek to understand the potential impact of sense-giving from Twitter crisis communication generated during the Hurricane Harvey disaster event. Social network and content analyses performed with a dataset of 9,414,463 tweets yielded insights into how sense-giving occurs during a large-scale disaster event. Theoretically, we specified (1) perpetual sense-giving, which relies primarily on topical authority and frequency; as well as (2) intermittent sense-giving, which occurs from high value of message content and leverage of popularity, that is, retweets. Our findings emphasise the importance of information-rich actors in communication networks and the leverage of their influence in crises such as coronavirus disease 2019 to reduce social media distrust and facilitate sense-making.
Highlights
Severe crises shatter societies and arouse trans-regional attention
This study proposes a data-driven approach to measure deliberate information distribution on Twitter and, attempts to identify decisive factors of influence, sense-giving, that affects sense-making during a crisis
From the analysis of the Hurricane Harvey experience, we identify lessons learned that are highly relevant for the ongoing COVID-19 disaster response and other crises
Summary
Severe crises shatter societies and arouse trans-regional attention. These types of crises can range from shooting rampages and acts of terror, to natural disasters and epidemics. In such scenarios, social media provides a communication environment with an excess of conflicting and often inaccurate information which can be both unintentionally and intentionally propagated by individuals and groups. The COVID-19 outbreak, in particular, has highlighted the necessity for the development of a comprehensive social media communication strategy to enhance and support crisis response. Misinformation, scaremongering or trivialisation of a crisis event can all present challenges to government authorities as they develop their crisis communication strategy. A tension has been generated between formal ‘command and control’ and emergent informal selforganising information and communication systems for crisis management decision-making (Bunker et al, 2015)
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