Tweeps and their tweeting behavior during natural disaster

Abstract

Every country needs to have a disaster mitigation measures to reduce the risks and impacts of hazards. Located in the ring of fire, Indonesia is no stranger to natural disasters. However, the country still has low disaster mitigation measures. One of the important tasks for disaster mitigation is understanding the role of social media during a disaster. Therefore, this study aims to answer the following questions: (1) What are Twitter function categories during natural disasters in Indonesia? (2) How is Twitter’s functional framework during natural disasters, especially between January 2018 and November 2019? The research applies a qualitative approach. Data are collected from Twitter from 1 January 2018 to 25 November 2019 using specific hashtags. Other than Twitter, data are also gathered from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) website and the Disaster Channel. Disaster communication research is vital since it can help the government to possess a thorough understanding of Twitter’s functional framework. Thus, it will help to make an impactful policy. This study finds that there are eight Twitter functions categories during natural disasters: quick update, showing sympathy, increasing disaster awareness, fundraising, distributing and combating fake news, pushing government efforts, displaying real vs. amateur expertise, and organizational branding purposes.