Utilizing Social Media for Information Dispersal

Results and Discussion

Following the analyses of previous frameworks and extensive background research of the evolving uses and challenges of using social media as a communication tool during disasters, the authors used the learned lessons and identified gaps to create a conceptual framework: the Communication Hub Framework. Key concepts of previous frameworks, such as the six principles of the CERC framework and the hub-and-spoke model featured in the framework proposed by Freitas et al., are incorporated into the foundation of the Communication Hub Framework. Despite its foundational similarities to previous works, the proposed framework's uniquely focuses on utilizing stakeholder relationships to enhance unified communication at the local level during a disaster.

A Proposed Conceptual Framework: The Communication Hub Framework

The proposed Communication Hub Framework is specifically intended to aid local level EM professionals, PIOs, and relevant stakeholders in dispersing essential information via social media during a disaster by providing a framework that guides the involvement of community partners in the communication process. Overall, the framework aims to amplify the critical social media messages produced by local EM professionals or PIOs while also ensuring that the public receives consistent, uniform messaging. Stakeholder organizations participating in the Communication Hub will agree to share or repost a local EM agency's social media messages containing essential information during a disaster, thus ensuring key stakeholders within a community share non-conflicting disaster-related messaging. By stakeholder organizations resharing local EM departments' original messages, the critical disaster-related messages will be amplified to reach a diverse range of community members. Engaging the community through both the local EM agency's own social media accounts and stakeholder organizations' accounts will contribute to the local EM agency's efforts to maintain a whole community approach to emergency management.

Ideally, the framework would be established during the pre-event stage, activated during the event stage, and evaluated in the post-event stage. Prior to adopting the Communication Hub Framework, local EM departments/agencies should have official social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter, and a social media plan in place. Guided templates for creating a social media business proposal and a social media plan can be found using the previously discussed SMEM Guidance Tool. Although the framework was developed with local EM agencies/departments in mind, the framework is scalable and can be adapted for use at higher levels of government.

Main Components of the Communication Hub Framework

The main components of the Communication Hub Framework (Figure 2) are the Communication Hub, essential elements of information (EEI), and the specific social media platforms selected by the leading local EM agencies or managers. Five stakeholder organizations and a hub coordinator from the local EM agency comprise the Communication Hub. EEIs, the second main component of the framework, are critical pieces of information needed for informed decision-making. In this case, EEIs are critical information the public needs to know during and after the disaster. The EEI criteria determined by the hub coordinator and agreed upon by the command and coordination team will influence the social media messages created and disseminated by the hub coordinator in a disaster. Lastly, the framework relies on the establishment and use of social media platforms selected by the local EM agency. Upon selecting specific social media platforms, EM professionals should consider their target demographics and the social media platforms to reach their target audiences best.

Figure 2. The three main components of the Communication Hub Framework. EEI is defined as Essential Elements of Information.

Main Components of the Communication Hub

As seen in Figure 3, the hub-and-spoke model proposed by Freitas et al. has been adapted to fit the Communication Hub Framework. Located in the center of the virtual Communication Hub is the hub coordinator, or a single person that represents a larger organization such as local emergency management agency. Examples of hub coordinators include a local PIO, EM professional, or trained volunteer in charge of coordinating communications for the local EM agency or department. Hub Coordinators are responsible for the following: (1) selecting five stakeholder organizations to be spokes of the Communication Hub; (2) determining criteria for EEI to include in social media messages; and (3) communicating and coordinating with the spoke organizations and the public via social media during a disaster.

Figure 3. A hub-and-spoke diagram representing the Communication Hub Framework. Emergency Management (EM).

Selecting "Spoke" Organizations for the Communication Hub

The framework contains five stakeholder organizations as spokes, due to the definition of a manageable span of control in NIMS. According to NIMS, a manageable span of control during an incident is "one supervisor to five subordinates". Since the framework is scalable, the number of spoke organizations can increase as long as more hub coordinators coordinating uniform messaging are incorporated into the framework. In order to maintain a manageable span of control, an additional hub coordinator would need to be added to the framework for each addition of five more spoke organizations. Both maintaining a manageable span of control and selecting cooperative stakeholder organizations are essential to the framework's success. When selecting stakeholder organizations to participate in the Communication Hub, hub coordinators should select spoke organizations based on the following characteristics: credibility with their audience, cooperativity, motivation to do the best for the community, and their social media account accessibility. Collectively, the five-spoke organizations should represent the diversity of the community. Examples of spoke organizations include the local school district, civic organizations, law enforcement agencies, religious organizations, and social groups.

When selecting the participating stakeholder organizations as spokes, hub coordinators must ensure that the selected stakeholders are prominent community leaders whom community members trust and a sizeable number of followers. The Communication Hub aims to expand the reach of the local EM agency's social media messages during a crisis. By selecting stakeholders with unique follower bases, the audience receiving the local EM agency's critical social media messages during a disaster will expand with the activation of the Communication Hub. In the event of an essential stakeholder lacking prominent social media accounts, the hub coordinator can reach out to the stakeholder organization to gauge their interest in establishing a social media presence and participating in the Communication Hub. Once the spoke organizations are selected, the hub coordinators should establish trustful social media relationships with the spoke organizations and their followers prior to disasters to aid in the efficient use of the Communication Hub during a disaster. Hub coordinators and spoke organizations can foster strong social media relationships by interacting with each other on social media via reposting and commenting on each organization's posts. This will allow followers of spoke organizations to be introduced to the local EM agency's social media accounts and vice versa prior to activating the Communication Hub for a disaster event.

Determining Essential Elements of Information (EEI) Criteria

In the pre-event stage, the standardized criteria for EEIs for social media messaging in disasters will be established in the pre-disaster period by the Hub Coordinator, staff within the Hub Coordinator's local EM agency, and stakeholder organizations participating in the Communication Hub. Established EEI criteria should be included in the agency's social media messaging template. The social media messaging template should include flexible and plain language that allows the hub coordinator to quickly insert critical information (i.e., time, location, etc.). Additionally, the template should be adaptable for messaging on a variety of social media platforms. Within the template, the established EEI criteria will guide the crafting of the messages distributed to the public via social media.

When determining the EEI criteria, the hub coordinator should consider the information community members must need to make informed decisions such as the impact of the incident, available shelters, evacuation routes, and action steps community members can take. Once the hub coordinator establishes the EEI criteria, the criteria should be placed in the local EM agency's social media communication plan. Social media messages developed and disseminated via the local EM agency's social media platforms and the spoke organizations platforms should be concise and contain the EEIs community members need to make informed decisions.

Implementing the Communication Hub during a Disaster

During a disaster or crisis, the hub coordinator would activate the Communication Hub and notify the participating stakeholder organizations by email, landline, cellphone, or radio (Figure 4). The hub coordinator would use the established EEI criteria to create a concise initial key message to post on the local EM agency's social media accounts and the spoke organizations' accounts. As the event progresses, the hub coordinator can create more social media messages as needed. The timing and amount of content shared will be dependent upon identified operational periods and the needs of the event. Once the initial message is crafted, the hub coordinator will release the message on all of the local EM agency's official social media platforms. The hub coordinator will then notify the spoke organizations of the social media post containing critical disaster-related information via the established methods of communication and post notifications.

Figure 4. A diagram of how a key social media message would be dispersed from the local EM agency via the Communication Hub during an ongoing disaster event. Emergency Operation Center (EOC).

As soon as the first message is sent from the local EM agency's official accounts, the hub coordinator will contact the spoke organizations to have them retweet or reshare the information across all social media platforms. Each spoke organization of the Communication Hub would report any insight or findings back to the hub coordinator. The process will continue as long as the Communication Hub remains active. In the event of spoke organizations reporting findings of misinformation, the hub coordinator will adjust social media messaging to address and correct rumors of misinformation. Any helpful information collected by the stakeholder organizations will be sent to the hub coordinator and passed on to the command team. Following a disaster, the Communication Hub members should hold an after-action review (AAR) meeting to discuss successes, opportunities for improvement, and establish an improvement plan to outline actions needed to improve the Communication Hub's information dissemination via social media.

Case Study: Hurricane Harvey

In order to further explore the application of the Communication Hub Framework to a real-world situation, the use of social media prior to landfall of Hurricane Harvey was used as a case study. Prior to the devastating landfall of Hurricane Harvey in the city of Houston, Texas, in 2017, messaging on social media from representatives of the City of Houston and the Mayor of Houston had uniformed and constant disaster-related messaging. These local stakeholder organizations consistently stated in both their social media and other media messages that an evacuation order was not in effect for the city in the days leading up to Hurricane Harvey's landfall. Despite the uniform messages dispersed on social media regarding the advice for Houston residents to shelter in place, the Governor of Texas' social media messages and his messages to the news media conflicted with the local stakeholder's guidance. Initially, the Governor of Texas supported local Houston officials' decision not to evacuate the city on both news media and social media platforms, but he changed his public opinion on the evacuation of the city during a press conference less than two days before the hurricane impacted Houston. At the press conference, the Governor of Texas started encouraging Houston residents to consider evacuating the area. The Governor's changed opinion was reflected in his social media messaging specifically on Twitter which directly conflicted with the local stakeholder's messaging on Twitter requesting Houston residents' shelter in place. As a result of the conflicting messages from local and state officials, Houston residents were left confused on whether to follow the guidance of local or state officials. These conflicting social media messages highlight the need for uniform social media crisis communications with consistent messaging from both local and state officials.

The confusion caused by conflicting disaster-related social media messaging could possibly have been avoided by implementing the Communication Hub framework to increase stakeholder involvement, aid in the coordination of uniform messaging among stakeholders, and amplify the uniformed messages across the social media platforms of partnering spoke organizations. In the example of this case, the Hub Coordinator would have been a PIO or emergency manager representing the City of Houston's local EM agency. Potential spoke organizations would have included the City of Houston, Texas state agencies such as the Texas Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), the Governor of Texas' administration, and local school districts. The establishment of the Communication Hub Framework and the recruitment of spoke organizations to be a part of the Communication Hub prior to a disaster occurring can help to increase the efficiency and consistency of social media messaging during a disaster.