The Use of Social Media Among Qatari Youth During Crises- A Survey

Abstract

In this paper, secondary crisis communication have been analyzed with respect to the effects of traditional media vs new media tools during the times of crises. The results confirms the strong relationship between the variables of SMCC model- Social Mediated Crisis Communication model. As the model highlighted the importance of word of mouth during crisis time, the results testing the cognitive dimension of acquiring news and updates indicated that the major source of information about the true crisis that happened before conducting the research was “friends and family” and social media –via what’s app and BBM. When testing the affective dimension, comparing traditional media to social media in terms of trustworthiness, the traditional media won over social media. Word of mouth also plays an important role in evaluating news as trustworthy. The direct and indirect channels of communication that transfer information about crisis appeared in testing the behavioral component of the information processing, where information is processed either directly by the receiver through social media or traditional media, or indirectly via inactive users who receive information reported by followers via twitter or Facebook or what’s app. The above mentioned results point to the need to extend crisis communication theories and shed more light on the mediated role of social networking sites in crisis communication as a shift from one to many communication mode to many to many communication mode. There are many intervening variables in the process of new media crisis communication that need to be examined and experimented such as interpretations use experiences (Schultz et al.,2011) in addition to users’ evaluation of medium credibility and the overall communication environment. Integration of social media into crisis and risk communication is crucial for crisis management, but it needs to be well planned. Using social media has the advantage of gaining fast information that would reduce rumors, but it has to be well planned to gain trust and credibility Having a comparison of a non-crisis information seeking situation builds the credibility of the results in times information seeking during crisis situations. The findings of this study have practical implications when designing communication strategies for government and organizations during emerging crisis situations. Using social media would result in a more positive evaluation of the situation, and achieving higher levels of awareness when information dissemination is needed. Communication of consistent messages via social networking sites in line with traditional media forms could assist in limiting rumors and achieve news credibility.