This presentation provides an overview of social media in emergency management organisations.

1. Judith Newton
Research Associate, Queensland University of Technology
Models of Social Media Adoption in
Emergency Management Organisations

2. Contents
• Rise of Social Media
• Social Media, Emergency Management
Organisations & Change
• Information Technology & Social Media
Adoption in Organisations
• Factors that Influence Organisational
Social Media Adoption
• Social Media Adoption Models
• Future Research

3. Introduction
Social media is
“a critical and
indispensable
element in
disaster & crisis
communication”.
Source: Haddow, Bullock & Coppola (2014, 148)
• CC
Flickr Creative Commons: US Geographical Society

4. Social Media Adoption?
Flickr Creative Commons: Dan Foy Flickr Creative Commons: Nate Steiner

5. The Rise of Social Media
• Globally 1 in 4 people
use social media
• Australians are strong
social media users
• Facebook most
popular (95%); Linked
In (20%); Instagram
(16%); Twitter &
Google + (15% each)
Source: Sensis 2013 Flickr Creative Commons: Staffan Scherz

6. The Rise of Social Media
• Frequency of social media use also grown
• Growth in use of smart phones & tablets
• Australian business social media use less
than proportion of Australians using social
media
• Growth in social media use across small,
media & large businesses (2011 to 2013)
Source: Sensis 2013

7. Social Media, Emergency Management
Organisations & Change
• Social media used in disaster & normal
day to day communications
– Community safety & crisis information
– Emergency alerts & warnings
– Intelligence gathering
– Notifications to staff & volunteers
– Requests for assistance from the community
– Recovery information & advice
Source: Lindsay 2011, 3-5

8. Social Media, Emergency Management
Organisations & Change
Changes that impact on
disaster communications:
• Citizen journalism
• Blurring of lines of
communication
• Amplification of word of
mouth communication

9. Social Media, Emergency Management
Organisations & Change
• Social media and potential risks
- posting of misinformation
- hacking of social media accounts
- security breaches
• Perceived loss of control for emergency
management organisations – direct
contrast to command and control
approach

10. IT and Social Media Adoption
Flickr Creative Commons: Ted Sakshaug Flickr Creative Commons: Jason Howie

11. Differences between Information
Technology & Social Media adoption
IT Adoption
• Catalyst – need to rectify
organisational problem
• Policy developed prior to
technology being used
• Adoption process out of
public view
• Uses organisation’s own
information &
communication
infrastructure
Social Media Adoption
• Driven by change in
consumer communication
preferences & behaviour
• Policy developed after
using social media
• Adoption highly visible to
online community
• Uses third party
platforms, not controlled
by organisation

12. Factors that Influence Social Media
Adoption in Organisations
• Organisational culture
• Management style
• The size of an organisation
• Knowledge and understanding about
social media
• Social media champion
• Resourcing & Training
• Mission statement & strategies

13. Mission statement, strategies
& social media
Location Strategy Business
Value
Tactic Policy Resources
IT
Department
Represent Information
Broadcast
Push No
interaction
allowed
None
Public
Affairs
Office
Engage Education Pull Commenting
Policy
Dedicated
staff & $
Knowledge
Experts
Mingle Transactional
Empowering
Network Open
exchanges
within SM
guidelines
Dedicated
staff & $
+ Expert
accounts
Source: Mergel 2013, 129

14. Social Media Adoption Models
• Centralised model - policy & direction from
one senior level in department
• Distributed strategic model – each
department has own policy & direction
• Coordinated hub and spoke model –
framework from senior management &
implementation at individual department
level
Source: Owyang (in Chikandiwa et al 2013, 367)

15. Social Media Adoption Models
• Multiple hub and spoke model – each
department implements framework, with
variations of implementation occurring at
the unit level within each department
• Holistic model – social media used freely
by all, individual efforts then coordinated
Source: Owyang (in Chikandiwa et al 2013, 367)

16. In Addition to your
Normal Duties Model
• No increase in
staffing
• Social media
added to existing
duties
Flickr Creative Commons: bark

17. All In Model
• Everyone in
organisation can
use social media
• UK Police Forces
& Twitter
Flickr Creative Commons: Nicole Yeary

18. Let’s Get Together Model
• Not a separate entity
• Integral to other parts
of organisation
• Physical location
• Narrowing approval
processes
Flickr Creative Commons: susan

19. Future Research
• Forthcoming Survey
• Australian EMO &
Local Governments
• Positioning of social
media function
• Resourcing, staffing,
policies, roles &
responsibilities to
post of social media
• Aim to commence
survey late 2014
• Project finish date -
December 2015
• Findings fed back to
Industry
Contact details:
judith.newton@qut.edu.au

20. Questions?
Flickr Creative Commons: Scott McLeod

21. References
Chikandiwa, Sarah Tsitsi, Eleftherios Contogiannis and Edgar Jembere. 2013.
"The adoption of social media marketing in South African banks." European
Business Review 25 (4): 365 – 381. Accessed 29 March 2014.
doi:10.1108/EBR-02-2013-0013
Haddow, George D., Jane A. Bullock and Damon P. Coppola. 2014.
Introduction to Emergency Management. 5th ed. Waltham, MA: Butterworth-
Heinemann, an imprint of Elsevier.
Lindsay, Bruce R. 2011. Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future
Options, and Policy Considerations, Report to Congress. United States of
America: Congressional Research Services. Accessed 22 March 2014.
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R41987.pdf

22. References
Mergel, Innes. 2013. “Social Media Adoption and Resulting Tactics in the U.S.
Federal Government.” Government Information Quarterly 30: 123-130.
Accessed 27 March 2014.
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0740
624X13000063?via=ihub
Miller, Andrew. 2011. “Cultural Barriers to Organisational Social Media
Adoption.” In Social Knowledge: Using Social Media to Know What You Know,
edited by john P Girard and JoAnn L. Girard, 96-114. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Accessed 28 March 2014. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-203-1
Patel, Laleh. 2010. “The Rise of Social Media.” T&D 64 (7):60-61,8.
Accessed 13 March 2014.
http://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.lib
rary.qut.edu.au/docview/608037080?accountid=13380

23. References
Sensis and the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association. 2013.
“Yellow Social Media Report”. 3rd Edition. Accessed 13 March 2014.
http://about.sensis.com.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/Yellow%20Pages%20So
cial%20Media%20Report_F.PDF

24. Acknowledgements
Photographs from Flickr Creative Commons
• Slide 2: Flood by US Geographical Society
• Slide 4: Planning Close-up by Dan Foy; Panic by Nate Steiner
• Slide 5: Texting by Staffan Scherz
• Slide 8: Blog Ideas by Owen W Brown
• Slide 10: This morning in the computer lab by Ted Sakshaug;
Social media apps by Jason Howie
• Slide 16: Work by bark
• Slide 17: Fabulous Chicago ladies tweet @ChefMarcela by Nicole
Yeary
• Slide 18: Integration by susan
• Slide 20: Question mark cookies 3 by Scott McLeod