Abstract
Disaster-related social media data often consist of several themes, and each theme allows people to understand and communicate from a certain perspective. It is necessary to take into consideration the dynamics of thematic emphases on social media in order to understand the nature of such data and to use them appropriately. This paper proposes a framework to analyze the temporal, spatial, and socioeconomic disparities in thematic emphases on social media during Typhoon Mangkhut. First, the themes were identified through a latent Dirichlet allocation model during Typhoon Mangkhut. Then, we adopted a quantitative method of indexing the themes to represent the dynamics of the thematic emphases. Spearman correlation analyses between the index and eight socioeconomic variables were conducted to identify the socioeconomic disparities in thematic emphases. The main research findings are revealing. From the perspective of time evolution, Theme 1 (general response) and Theme 2 (urban transportation) hold the principal position throughout the disaster. In the early hours of the disaster, Theme 3 (typhoon status and impact) was the most popular theme, but its popularity fell sharply soon after. From the perspective of spatial distribution, people in severely affected areas were more concerned about urban transportation (Theme 2), while people in moderately affected areas were more concerned about typhoon status and impact (Theme 3) and animals and humorous news (Theme 4). The results of the correlation analyses show that there are differences in thematic emphases across disparate socioeconomic groups. Women preferred to post about typhoon status and impact (Theme 3) and animals and humorous news (Theme 4), while people with higher income paid less attention to these two themes during Typhoon Mangkhut. These findings can help government agencies and other stakeholders address public needs effectively and accurately in disaster responses.
Highlights
Social media platforms such as Twitter can collect data in a timely and extensive manner, improve situational awareness during disasters, and provide the public with a reliable communication channel when traditional communication methods fail [1]
Social media has emerged as an option in the response to disaster incidents and received extensive attention
Typhoon Mangkhut was the strongest typhoon in the Northwest Pacific in 2018
Summary
Social media platforms such as Twitter can collect data in a timely and extensive manner, improve situational awareness during disasters, and provide the public with a reliable communication channel when traditional communication methods fail [1]. The information on social media is updated in a highly timely manner, and the networked communication structure of social media platforms can quickly convey disaster situational information to a large audience [2]. Utilization, intervention, and guidance of information diffusion via social media have become important means for improving scientific decision making in emergencies. Access to timely and accurate information is essential to make real-time decisions and to take immediate actions [3]. Social media has emerged as an option in the response to disaster incidents and received extensive attention. Social media has emerged as an option in the response to disaster incidents and received extensive attention. 4.0/).
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