Social-mediated Crisis Communication Research Articles

Public risk perception of cruise travel on social media: A collective sensemaking perspective

Social media is an important crisis communication channel, which can shape the public's risk perception and subsequently affect their attitudes, decisions, and behaviors. The significance of social-mediated crisis communication is further highlighted in times of a global pandemic, given people's increasing informational needs and reliance on social media. Guided by the Social Amplification of Risk Framework, this study explores the Chinese public's risk perception of cruise travel from a collective sensemaking perspective. This study used netnography to analyze 78,373 Weibo posts about cruise travel. The findings revealed the process of personal-level risk perceptions evolving into societal-level risk perceptions. The findings further demonstrated how the perceived risk of cruise travel was amplified by activating emotional contagion and public consensus. The role played by co-presence, social norms, and cultural values to amplify societal-level risk was highlighted. Finally, this study discusses the theoretical and managerial implications for managing public risk perception during pandemic times for cruise travel.

The Role of Social Media in Crisis Communication during COVID-19 Period

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause great impact on countries around the world. During this health crisis, political communication is crucial as the governments ability to govern is challenged and it needs to make timely decisions that will affect a large number of people based on the spread of the virus. COVID-19 is changing the way people interact with each other, and social media is playing a more important role in peoples social life than ever before. Due to its convenience in obtaining information and its widespread application, social media has become an important channel for the government and the public to participate in crisis management. From the perspective of social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) and media richness, this paper mainly analyzes the roles of social media in COVID-19 crisis communication from the aspects of communication efficiency, social solidarity, information epidemic and celebrity effects, thereby providing the government with recommendations for a more comprehensive understanding and employment of social media in COVID-19 crisis communication.

Unpacking the black box: An investigation of online crisis communication patterns among stakeholders in the NIMBY conflict

Conflicts caused by NIMBY facilities pose significant threats to urban harmony and sustainability. Ubiquitous online access undoubtedly exacerbates social tensions, and discerning “who is doing what?” is critical for urban managers during crisis communication. However, communication patterns among online stakeholders in NIMBY conflicts have not been comprehensively investigated. Based on Social-Mediated Crisis Communication theory, this research crawls 66,831 Sina blogs to reveal the evolution of online messages and the interaction patterns of diverse stakeholders. Findings show that stakeholders release messages with different emphases and play different roles. Specifically, government functions as the “leader”, who plays a dominant role in online communication; news organizations function as the “bridge”, receiving and spreading information released by governments to other stakeholders with an efficient transmission function; media practitioners function as the “regulator”, mainly posting rumor management messages to clarify misinformation and alleviate social tensions; and citizen agents function as both “receiver” and “promulgator”, who receive information from other stakeholders and also disseminate opinions to other netizens. These findings can advance the existing knowledge body of NIMBY crisis communication and yield valuable inputs for evidence-based policymaking in conflict management in China and beyond. • Social-Mediated Crisis Communication was applied to investigate online NIMBY crisis communication patterns. • The dynamic communication networks among stakeholders were investigated. • The influential actors in different stages of online crisis communication in NIMBY conflict were identified.

What Motivates Information Seeking and Sharing During a Public Health Crisis? A Combined Perspective From the Uses and Gratifications Theory and the Social- Mediated Crisis Communication Model

Combining the uses and gratifications theory (U&G) and the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC), this study examined why and how Chinese publics sought and shared information during a public health crisis in China—the Quanjian crisis. Through a survey of 309 Chinese adults, we found that Chinese publics sought and shared crisis information to gratify socializing, guidance, medium appeal, mood management, and habitual diversion gratifications. In addition, publics sought medium appeal gratification through information seeking and sought competence and reciprocity gratifications through information sharing. Moreover, the study examined the relationships between gratifications-sought and forms (i.e., traditional media, social media, offline word-of-mouth communication) and sources (i.e., government, news agency, health professionals, Quanjian company, other public members) of information that Chinese publics sought and shared during the Quanjian crisis.

The state of social-mediated crisis communication research through the lens of global scholars: An updated assessment

We investigate the state of global social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) research through a content analysis of 189 discrete academic articles published in key journals included in the Social Sciences Citation Index via the Web of Science from 2006 to 2020. We identify the patterns in the theoretical and methodological approaches and the types of crisis, social media platforms, and contextual factors examined in SMCC research. Our findings demonstrate the common trends and differences between regions or societies. Scholars from North America dominated this field and primarily used quantitative methods, such as content analysis and experiments. A Western-oriented situational crisis communication theory was the most frequently applied theoretical framework. Twitter and Facebook were the most frequently used social media tools, and natural crises were studied most frequently. Nearly half of the SMCC studies collected research data about crises within America, and none focused on African countries. Contextual factors, such as political, cultural, and media characteristics, were found to affect online crisis communication practices. Our study can thus inform future discussions by revealing current theoretical gaps.

Communicating on social media during a #FestivalEmergency

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to explore multidirectional flows of information over the course of an emergency. The following research questions were designed to guide this study: How does social media communication unfold over the course of an emergency at a cultural event? How does the nature and purpose of social media communication between all SM users change once an emergency occurs that affects event operations? How does the sentiment of social media communication change once an emergency occurs that affects event operations?Design/methodology/approachThis study explored how social media was used to communicate about on-site emergencies at community cultural events. Three events were studied before, during and after an on-site emergency that disrupted the event. The Twitter and Facebook posts referencing emergencies that took place at Shambhala, Detonate and Zombicon were explored, and the nature and purpose of the posts revealed how online communication changed throughout the emergencies. The Social Mediated Crisis Communication Model guided this research and findings contribute to the model's ongoing development by incorporating additional theories and models.FindingsThe research demonstrates that social media communication shifts during an emergency and how communication moves through a network changes. Once an emergency is underway, communication increases and who is talking with whom changes. The nature and purpose of the social media conversation also evolves over the course of an emergency.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined the social media communication during three on-site emergencies at three different cultural events. The findings contribute to the understanding of the Social Media Crisis Communication Model. Specifically, the research confirms the various actors who engage online but also shows that two-way communication is not common. As this study only examined three events experiencing three different emergencies, we have a limited understanding of how the type of emergencies affects social media communication.Practical implicationsThe findings show the need for pre-crisis work by event organizers. It is necessary for the events to build trust with their online communities to ensure that when an emergency occurs the event will be seen as a trusted source. Also, staff training is needed to ensure people are prepared to handle the complexities of communicating online during an emergency. Issues like misinformation, influencers and the rapid pace of social media communication create a challenging environment for staff who are unprepared.Originality/valueEmergencies can threaten the survival of event organizations and put the health and wellness of attendees, staff and other stakeholders at risk. The study of crisis communication in special event contexts has received little theoretical attention and yet it is an important area of event management practice. Social media is an essential part of communication strategies and should be integrated into emergency planning to best reach people when an emergency threatens the safety of those involved with the event. The Social Media Crisis Communication Model offers some insight, but understanding its relevance is necessary if it is to be integrated into event emergency management.

Roles of Temporal Message Framing and Digital Channel Type in Perception and Dissemination of Food Risk Rumors

Now that online media channels have become important sources of risk information, online rumors about risks have become increasingly problematic. Guided by construal level theory and the social-mediated crisis communication model, this study tests direct, mediating, and moderating effects of temporal message frame and digital media channel type on people’s perceptions of food risk rumors and their intentions to share them. An online experiment with a 2 temporal frame (near vs. distant in time) x 2 channel type (web portal vs. social media site) between-subjects design was conducted among 413 Korean adults. Results show that risk perceptions are affected more by the channel on which rumor information is encountered than by the framing of the information. Specifically, rumor messages presumed to appear on social media generated (a) higher perceived susceptibility than those presumed to appear on web portals (main effects) and (b) higher levels of perceived susceptibility in a distant-future frame condition than in a near-future frame condition (conditional moderating effects). Perceived susceptibility also mediated the interaction effects of temporal frame and channel type on intention to share rumor. This study provides theoretical and practical implications for digital media channel effects on risk perceptions and dissemination intention for risk rumors.

Exploring Negative Spillover Effects on Stakeholders: A Case Study on Social Media Talk about Crisis in the Food Industry Using Data Mining

Focusing on public-centered, social-mediated crisis communication, the current exploratory study drew on situational crisis communication theory to formulate a comprehensive view of consumer reactions to crisis. Data mining and automated content analysis techniques were utilized to analyze social media posts by the public during a crisis in the cereals industry. Two path analyses showed that: (a) crisis-related social media posts tended to skip over competitor brand products, followed by two major reaction paths—(1) a rational path based on guilt attribution that justifies implications for the company and (2) an emotional path associated with public distrust; and (b) public self-blame spilled over to other stakeholders such as the government and economic system. The results give voice to issues that concern the public during crises, both as individuals and as a community. They highlight the fact that sustainable crisis management should involve additional stakeholders. Conclusions and implications for society and practice are suggested.

Covid-19 and the tourism industry: An early stage sentiment analysis of the impact of social media and stakeholder communication

This paper examines tourist public responses to crisis communications during the early stages of Covid-19. Using the social-mediated crisis communication model, the paper explores the key factors that influence public sentiments during nascent periods of the crisis. The choice of data collection dates was determined by key milestones events with significant implications in relation to UK tourism. Sentiment analysis of data sets of public tweets and news articles were done in order to interrogate how the trends and performance of the airlines and the tourism sector have been shaped by the sentiments of the tourism publics, the crisis communication interventions from key institutional actors, and the news sentiments about tourism organizations, particularly airlines. Sentiment analysis, also known as opinion mining, falls under natural language processing (NLP) and is used to identify different sentiments and polarities in texts. Our findings indicate that institutional actors have a significant impact on the sentiments of tourism publics. Our study contributes to existing research on crisis communication by illuminating how public narrative about, and stakeholder responses to, crisis are shaped not just by organizational communication strategies but also institutional actors, on the one hand, and the interested publics too.

Exploring frames of environmental crises on Twitter and Weibo: Crisis communication about Hurricane Maria and haze.

There is limited knowledge about how crises are framed on different social media platforms specifically in a non-Western cultural context. This study compares how extreme environmental crises-Hurricane Maria and haze-were framed on Twitter and Weibo. Through word-cloud, co-occurrence, and thematic analyses with Hurricane Maria-related tweets, this study identified two major frames of this crisis: a disaster frame and a political frame. Similarly, by analyzing haze-related posts on Sina Weibo, two major frames emerged: an environmental frame and a health frame. Both crises were largely framed as environmental issues rather than health risks or crises. Such framing helps shape the existence of Hurricane Maria and haze as legitimate facts. The findings also reveal that cultural variances, eg, power distance, collectivist-individualist culture, and uncertainty avoidance, impact crisis framing. This study indicates the importance of designing culture-fit messages and incorporating social media strategies in crisis communication while developing emergency management plans and adds knowledge to the limited literature on social-mediated crisis communication in different cultural contexts. Such knowledge will provide theoretical and practical implications for crisis scholars, emergency management practitioners, and policymakers.

Social-Mediated Diffusion of Conspiracy Theories about COVID-19: A Study Integrating SMCC and TPB Models

ABSTRACT Two conspiracy theories that respectively attribute the origin of COVID-19 to a Chinese research institute and the US, were widely disseminated over China’s social media sphere in early 2020. By integrating the social-mediated crisis communication model with the theory of planned behavior, this study investigates predictors of public reactions to these conspiracy claims. The results of a cross-sectional survey discovered that message strategies and forms as well as user types and emotions can variously predict their believing in and diffusing conspiracy theories. Rational appeal and internet efficacy both predict diffusing the theory that attributes its origin to the US but have no effect on diffusing its counterpart. Moreover, family discussion has no effect on diffusing both two theories. These findings suggest that public reactions to coronavirus-related conspiracy theories should be examined in the contexts of not only social media applications but also China’s internet regulations, cultural values, and international relations.

Regenerative crisis, social media publics and Internet trolling: A cultural discourse approach

Given that a regenerative crisis life cycle is no longer static, communication dynamics have extended beyond organization-receiver relationship to receiver-receiver relationship in the social media environment. This paper analyzes and explicates the socio-cultural meanings in the interaction processes of the crisis publics with a specific socio-political context by blending the concept of Internet trolling into predominant crisis communication theories (i.e. social-mediated crisis communication and regenerative crisis model).Using cultural discourse analysis (CuDA), we analyzed the top influential posts, comments and responses created by both influential social media users and general followers based on the five discourse hubs or radiants of identity, relation, action, dwelling, and emotion in the Lancôme case, which was regarded as the most heated crisis in Hong Kong after and influenced by the Umbrella Movement. The findings suggest that the motivations and behaviors found within each of the crisis publics––influencers and followers––are fundamentally different from each other by nature along the situated regenerative crisis. Two types of social media influencers (i.e. primary and secondary influencers) were identified. We propose a regenerative crisis model of publics to highlight their roles, purposes, behaviors, interaction processes, and emotions within a situated socio-political tension. This paper also discusses the theoretical implications for social-mediated crisis communication literature and the practical implications that take contextual factors into consideration.

Disaster communication behaviors in the U.S. and China: which channels do you use and with whom?

ABSTRACT Enriching the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC) with the media theories of information repertoire and curation as well as the literature of risk communication, this study examines the antecedents, processes, and protective outcomes of disaster communication in the form of information gathering and sharing across countries. Analysis of online survey data collected in the United States and China shows that while Americans and Chinese exhibit similar patterns in using repertoires for disaster information gathering, they differ in the repertoires used for sharing disaster information. Moreover, different inter-repertoire patterns are manifested in disaster information gathering and sharing. Both countries also exhibit similarities and differences in terms of the association between the repertoires of disaster communication and protective action taking. Furthermore, the results show that subjective norms are the most consistent predictor of all types of repertoires of disaster information gathering across countries.

Simplified Social Mediated Crisis Communication Model during Crisis in Indonesia: A Case Study on How Customers of Indonesia Commuter Line Train Company Seek Information on a Train Delay Due to the Double Track Trial on April 12, 2019

This study explores how audiences seek information from internet and social media platforms, and considers what factors affect social media use during a crisis. The paper is based on research conducted via a survey involving 162 active followers selected from the 875,200 followers of the Indonesia Train Company: PT Kereta Api Commuter Line official Twitter account (Info Commuter Line @CommuterLine). The study proposes the Simplified Social Mediated Crisis Communication Model (SSMCC) as a variation on the original Social-Mediated Crisis Communication (SMCC) Model by Jin & Liu (2010). This variation is based on the argument that during a crisis, audiences located nearby typically rely on social media (usually accessed via a mobile phone) rather than a traditional media outlet when seeking information. This study concludes that some of the themes related to the use of social media to search for information during a crisis, and word of mouth (WOM) communication, are present in the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication (SMCC) communication model. This study also discusses the differences between the original SMCC model and the Simplified Social-Mediated Crisis Communication model proposed by the researcher. There was no evidence of an inactive social media user’s influence on information retrieval during a crisis; in addition, there is no role of traditional media as a source of information retrieval during a crisis. This research contributes to developing scientific knowledge and practices in Indonesia.
 Keywords: crisis communication, social media, information search, simplified social mediated crisis communication model, social media followers

Exploring Crisis Communication and Information Dissemination on Social Media: Social Network Analysis of Hurricane Irma Tweets

This study utilized social network analysis to identify the top 10 Twitter influentials during the Hurricane Irma crisis period and examined the relationship between social media attributes and the bridge influence of controlling information flow. The number of a user’s followers and tweets significantly predicted one’s control of information. Crisis information tended to be shared in scattered subgroups. Social network boundaries impeded information diffusion, and the communication pattern was largely one-way. The findings partially supported the opinion leader argument while indicating that influentials can directly generate information, which is consistent with the social-mediated crisis communication model. Such findings will contribute to crisis literature and help emergency management professionals advance social media usage to disseminate crisis information, build effective communication, and provide immediate disaster relief responses

Information vetting as a key component in social-mediated crisis communication: An exploratory study to examine the initial conceptualization

In order to understand publics’ crisis information consumption in an increasingly competitive and conflicting media environment, this study addresses how and why individuals vet information (or not) in social-mediated crisis situations. Built upon the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model as well as grounded in the elaboration likelihood model and the meta-cognition theory, this study proposes an initial conceptual framework of crisis information vetting. An exploratory study, including four focus groups and 13 in-depth interviews, was conducted to investigate: 1) indicators of information vetting behavior according to participants’ self-reported experiences; and 2) what motivate and what prohibit participants from engaging themselves emotionally and cognitively in the process of crisis information vetting. Our qualitative data provide evidences for a two-step process of crisis information vetting, namely, primary vetting and secondary vetting. The 14 sub-constructs and 48 vetting behavior indicators rendered may serve in future scale development and further conceptual model refinement of the new crisis information vetting construct. By connecting publics’ crisis information consumption with their crisis information transmission in social-mediated crisis communication, this study also extends and enriches the SMCC model.

Crisis Informatics in the Context of Social Media Crisis Communication: Theoretical Models, Taxonomy, and Open Issues

The involvement application and use of crisis and emergency management and communication are increasing rapidly. This study conducts a systematic literature review to identify the development of theoretical models in the area of social media crisis communication and management. The study aims to review and analyse the relationship of social media-based crisis communication in the context of crisis informatics and its taxonomy and the related crisis communication theoretical models to derive the challenges and limitations. A total of 207 articles were selected for the evaluation based on quality, relevancy, and contribution. The findings revealed that the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is the most dominant theory, followed by social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) and integrated crisis mapping (ICM) models. The study identified theories such as the STREMII model, social media crisis management matrix/framework (SMSMF), and an interactive crisis communication model (ICCM) as emerging models. Moreover, the result of the finding shows that stakeholder interaction is an understudied field, while information reliability and processing for decision-making purposes, the wider application of social media sites, privacy issues, and how social media interaction can improve community resilience or build stakeholders relationships remain suitable topics for future research.

How publics’ active and passive communicative behaviors affect their tornado responses: An integration of STOPS and SMCC

During imminent threat crises, such as natural disasters, publics have minutes to decide how to respond after receiving a warning. This study advances understanding of publics’ crisis communicative and noncommunicative behaviors in the context of tornadoes through combining and extending two theories: the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model and the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS). Findings from a survey of Southeast U.S. residents (n = 1,585) indicate that STOPS is internally consistent and accurate at measuring its intended outcomes of communicative action in problem solving. However, the STOPS measures do not have a significant relationship with the desirable outcome for imminent threat crisis communication: individuals following government’s protective action guidance about tornadoes. In comparison, the expanded SMCC model predicts individuals’ self-reported compliance. Finally, variables from the SMCC model and tornado-specific variables were integrated into the STOPS model to explain individuals’ communicative engagement. Implications for theory and public relations practice are discussed.

Revisiting social-mediated crisis communication model: The Lancôme regenerative crisis after the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement

The widespread use of social media has stimulated the number of crises on a global scale and given rise to regenerative crises which involve multiple crisis stages and publics. Using the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication model and the regenerative crisis model, this study explores a real-life organizational crisis related to Lancôme Hong Kong, which was driven by the socio-political environment after the Umbrella Movement. It aims to examine the engagement strategies by different publics, and also the influence of information forms and sources on the trends of emotion among social media publics. Results also provided an empirical evaluation of the regenerative crisis model driven by a socio-political environment. An online content analysis of selected 10% sample with an online data acquisition and analysis tool (3902 Facebook posts and comments, 1178 forum posts and comments, and 244 online news articles) revealed the interlocking connection among the involved publics along with the social-mediated regenerative crisis life cycle. Followers’ emotional responses were not only attached to Lancôme, but also to third parties as information sources. Four subcategories of influential social media creators were identified. Refinement on the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication model and practical implications are suggested.

The social-mediated crisis communication research: Revisiting dialogue between organizations and publics in crises of China

The rapid diffusion of social media is ushering in a new era of crisis communication. To enhance our understanding of the social-mediated dialogue between organizations and their publics in crises of China, this study conducts a content analysis of 61 relevant journal articles published in 2006–2018. Results of this research present an overview of ongoing research trends such as theoretical frameworks and methodological preferences. This research also explores how the unique Chinese social media characteristics affect the dialogue between types of organizations and their publics. Contextual factors such as face and favor, relationship (Guanxi) and sentiment (Renqing), and the centralized political system that may facilitate/inhibit dialogue in crises of China are identified as well. Finally, this study suggests promising new directions such as a scholarly assessment tool for the social-mediated crisis communication research in China.