Social Media Use in the Queensland Floods

Social Media Use in the Queensland Floods
Image by campoalto
Assoc. Prof. Axel Bruns / Dr. Jean BurgessQueensland University of Technology
Assoc. Prof. Kate Crawford / Frances ShawUniversity of New South Wales
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation

Crisis Communication research in the CCI
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation (national, based at QUT)
Project: Media Ecologies & Methodological Innovation
Aims to implement new methods to understand the changing media environment;
Focusing on the relationship between social media and traditional media and communication platforms;
Combining large-scale computer-assisted techniques with qualitative social research and close textual analysis
Focus on Crisis Communication
Natural disasters
Other ‘acute events’

Crisis Communication research in the CCI
Jan-April 2011
Focus on uses of social media during the Qld Floods
Archive of tweets using #qldfloodshashtag
Analysis
Volume of tweets over time
@replies and retweets: key actors and their networks
URLs: key media resources, user-uploaded images and videos
Emergence and uptake of hashtags and other user conventions
Content analysis: themes and purposes over time

Case study: @QPSMedia

Next steps
More forensics: successes and failures, especially rumours and misinformation
Further comparison with other recent natural disasters
Comparing mainstream and social media coverage
Social context: in-depth interviews with residents
Direct engagement with emergency services, government and media

Twitter and the Queensland Floods: #qldfloods tweets
10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011

Local Focus: #qldfloods from Toowoomba to Brisbane
Toowoomba vs. Lockyer/Grantham vs. Ipswich vs. Brisbane slide
10 Jan 2011 11 Jan 2011 12 Jan 2011 13 Jan 2011 14 Jan 2011 15 Jan 2011

Twitter and the Queensland Floods: #qldfloods posters
retweet feeds
mainstream media
Qld Police

Twitter and the Queensland Floods: #qldfloods @replies
authorities
mainstream media

Twitter and the Christchurch Earthquake: #eqnz @replies
mainstream media
authorities
utilities

Key Accounts over Time

@QPSmedia as Central #qldfloods Information Source

#qldfloods Network Map – Most Active Accounts Only(Degree >= 15 / Node size: indegree / node colour: outdegree)

Twitter Events in Perspective: Comparing the Main 24h

Twitter and the Japanese Tsunami: Beyond the #Hashtag

Twitter and the Queensland Floods
First lessons:
#qldfloods as coordinating tool – one central hashtag
Go where the users are – and help establish hashtag
Plus inventive additions – e.g. @QPSmedia #Mythbuster tweets
Most activity by individuals – but key official accounts cut through
Enable easy retweeting and sharing of messages
Respond and engage
Mainstream media are important in social media environments, too
Twitter as an amplifier of key messages
Twitter vs. Facebook – which works when?

Image by campoalto
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/
@snurb_dot_info | a.bruns@qut.edu.au
@jeanburgess | je.burgess@qut.edu.au
@katecrawford | k.crawford@unsw.edu.au

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Social Media Use in the Queensland Floods

by Axel Bruns on Apr 04, 2011

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Social Media Use in the Queensland Floods — Webinar Transcript