Social Media and the Boston Marathon Bombings: A Case Study By: George Haddow and Kim Haddow , Posted on: June 4, 2015 As we reach the final stretch of the capital trial of the Boston Marathon bomber, we present this case study on social media that was originally published in the author’s book Disaster Communications in a Changing Media World : Case Study: BPD and Social Media At 2:49 PM on April 15, 2013 two bombs exploded near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring 264.  The first reports about the about the terrorist attack were spread through Twitter and Facebook. At 2:59 PM the Boston Globe tweeted: “BREAKING NEWS: Two powerful explosions detonated in quick succession right next to the Boston Marathon finish line this afternoon.” Minutes later, the Boston Police Department confirmed the explosion in a tweet. And in a separate tweet soon after reported: “22 injured. 2 dead #tweetfromthebeat via @CherylFiandaca ” According to Topsy, a Twitter analytics company, at around 4:10 p.m. there were more than 300,000 mentions on Twitter of “Boston explosions.” (Stern, 2013) In a second wave of social media, details about the event spread. Media that included photos of blood covering the ground and a six-second Vine video of the actual explosion was circulated, deepening people’s sense of what had happened.  Around 4:30 p.m., there were more than 700,000 mentions on Twitter of the “Boston Marathon.”  (Stern, 2013) Even though television was the most widely-used source of information about the bombing and its aftermath, it was social media that shaped the story and the response.  While 80% of Americans followed the story on TV according to the Pew Research Center, about half (49%) say they kept up with news and information online or on a mobile device and a quarter of Americans got information about the explosions and the hunt for the bombers on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Young Americans in particular kept up-to-date through social media. Slightly more than half (56%) of an 18-to-29 year subgroup polled by Pew got bombing-related news through social networking sites. (Pew Research Center, 2013). The Boston bombings and the manhunt that followed became the backdrop for the world to witness the transformation – for good and for bad — in news gathering and distribution, and in disaster management and crises communications caused by social media platforms and technology.  The Boston Marathon bombings were a watershed, a moment that marked forever the changed role of social media and the fully participatory public in breaking news events and coverage.  The New York Times wrote: It is America’s first fully interactive national tragedy of the social media age.” (Kakutani, 2013) From marathon runners giving their accounts on Facebook, to law enforcement officials using Twitter to give real-time updates and asking for help identifying and capturing the suspects, to th.

1. Social Media and the Boston Marathon Bombings: A Case Study
By:
George Haddow and Kim Haddow
, Posted on: June 4, 2015
As we reach the final stretch of the capital trial of the Boston
Marathon bomber, we present this case study on social media
that was originally published in the author’s book
Disaster Communications in a Changing Media World
:
Case Study: BPD and Social Media
At 2:49 PM on April 15, 2013 two bombs exploded near the
finish line of the annual Boston Marathon killing three people
and injuring 264. The first reports about the about the terrorist
attack were spread through Twitter and Facebook.
At 2:59 PM the
Boston Globe
tweeted:
“BREAKING NEWS: Two powerful explosions detonated in
quick succession right next to the Boston Marathon finish line
this afternoon.”
Minutes later, the Boston Police Department confirmed the
explosion in a tweet. And in a separate tweet soon after
reported:
“22 injured. 2 dead

2. #tweetfromthebeat
via
@CherylFiandaca
”
According to Topsy, a Twitter analytics company, at around
4:10 p.m. there were more than 300,000 mentions on Twitter of
“Boston explosions.” (Stern, 2013) In a second wave of social
media, details about the event spread. Media that included
photos of blood covering the ground and a six-second Vine
video of the actual explosion was circulated, deepening people’s
sense of what had happened. Around 4:30 p.m., there were
more than 700,000 mentions on Twitter of the “Boston
Marathon.” (Stern, 2013)
Even though television was the most widely-used source of
information about the bombing and its aftermath, it was social
media that shaped the story and the response. While 80% of
Americans followed the story on TV according to the Pew
Research Center, about half (49%) say they kept up with news
and information online or on a mobile device and a quarter of
Americans got information about the explosions and the hunt
for the bombers on social networking sites such as Facebook
and Twitter.
Young Americans in particular kept up-to-date through social
media. Slightly more than half (56%) of an 18-to-29 year
subgroup polled by Pew got bombing-related news through
social networking sites. (Pew Research Center, 2013).
The Boston bombings and the manhunt that followed became the
backdrop for the world to witness the transformation – for good
and for bad — in news gathering and distribution, and in
disaster management and crises communications caused by
social media platforms and technology. The Boston Marathon
bombings were a watershed, a moment that marked forever the

3. changed role of social media and the fully participatory public
in breaking news events and coverage. The
New York Times
wrote:
It is America’s first fully interactive national tragedy of the
social media age.” (Kakutani, 2013)
From marathon runners giving their accounts on Facebook, to
law enforcement officials using Twitter to give real-time
updates and asking for help identifying and capturing the
suspects, to the
Boston Globe
converting its homepage to a live blog that pulled in Tweets
from Boston authorities, news outlets and ordinary citizens –
social media showed itself to be an indispensible tool with a
unique role to play and contribution to make in response to a
terrorist attack. Boston also provided a cautionary tale when
some journalists and members of the public opted to value speed
over accuracy, using social media to spread incorrect,
unverified information, causing a “misinformation disaster.”
(Ulanoff, 2013)
And finally, it was during the bombings the Boston Police
Department set a new standard for government communications
during a disaster– using social media to inform, correct
inaccurate information, to lead and listen to the public
conversation. Mashable — an online media company that
focuses on innovation and technology — declared that during
the crisis, the Boston Police department “
schooled us all on social media
,” (Bar-Tur, 2013) and asserted that “BPD’s presence online
helps reinvent the whole notion of community policing for the
21st century.” (Bar-Tur, 2013)
How Social Media was used during the Boston Marathon
Bombings

4. From the moment the two bombs went off on Boylston Street
near the end of the Boston Marathon until the eventual capture
of the surviving suspect, social media played a unique and
complementary role in providing immediate access to the most
up-to-date information and as a platform that made it possible
for the public to be actively involved in the story as fully
participating partners in the identification and hunt for the
suspected terrorists.
According to Sean Mussenden, a professor of digital journalism
at the University of Maryland, this is the new normal for
investigations. “It’s also the present, the modern media
landscape in which we live. The audience is a huge active
participant in these sorts of stories.”(Presuitti, 2013)
Breaking News/Real Time updates
Both the FBI and Boston PD used Twitter to reach out to the
public to inform them of what was going and what to do. The
public found out in real time what was going on as soon as law
enforcement did. They were given updates throughout the
event. News conferences were tweeted out and shared on
Facebook as they occurred.
“One of the Boston police officers responsible for the social
media content put it more succinctly: “We don’t break news.
We are the news.””
SHARE THIS QUOTE
According to Jason Fry writing for Poynter.org, the website of
the Poynter Institute, a journalism school that owns
The Tampa Bay Times
, the biggest change in breaking disaster news coverage is that
news gathering and reporting is now done in real time – in front
of readers and viewers. “Instead of waiting for a carefully

5. crafted report on the news or a front page, readers are now in
the ‘fog of war’ with the participants and reporters and officials
and everybody else…given readers’ hunger for news on such
days, news organizations can’t remain silent about reports until
they’ve been verified with officials and subjected to the
organization’s own system of scrutiny. The chaos of breaking
news is no longer something out of which coverage arises —
it’s the coverage itself.” (Fry, 2013)
According to Fry, the
Boston Globe’s
News coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing benefited
from a marriage of “boots on the ground” and an “eye in the
sky.” (Fry, 2013) The Boston Globe’s had boots on the ground
— quite literally, since the newspaper had reporters and
photographers at the finish line very near the site of the two
bombs.
But they also needed an eye in the sky — someone charged with
gathering information from social media, deciding what’s
credible and what’s not, and presenting it to readers “That
meant incorporating what other journalists are seeing, hearing
things and tweeting, keeping up with government officials,
hospital spokespeople and others sources who now release
information directly to the public, without funneling it through
the media and staying abreast of what the public is reporting on
social media.” (Fry, 2013)
Situational Awareness
As soon as the bombs exploded, Marathon participants and
spectators turned to cell phones and social media to share
photos and observations from the site – and to let worried
friends and family members know their condition and
whereabouts.

6. Bruce Mendelsohn, a marketer who was attending a party just
above the site of the first explosion, tweeted and uploaded
photos from the bombing. According to Fry, “Mendelsohn is
the kind of witness reporters hope to find but rarely do — a
former Army medic with an eye for detail and the ability to
assess spectators’ injuries and what might have caused them.”
(Fry, 2013)
Mendelson’s tweets:
Bruce Mendelsohn @brm90
“I did see gruesome wounds and smelled cordite. My educated
guess is that this was two bombs, detonated at ground level”
Bruce Mendelsohn @brm90
“Wounds commensurate with a ground-level detonation. I saw
the wounds–mostly lower extremities.”
To help friends and families learn the fate of Marathon runners
and spectators, Boston PD tweeted a number that family
members looking for information related to injured individuals
could call. (Between the lines, 2013)
But heavy cell phone use caused slow and delayed service. The
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency sent a tweet
telling people to try to use text messaging instead:
“If you are trying to reach friends or family and can’t get
through via phone, try texting instead (less bandwidth).”
(Thompson, 2013)
Google set up its Person Finder website in shortly after the twin
bombings to make it easier to find and communicate with loved
ones. The site allows users to enter the name of a person they

7. are looking for or update information about someone who was
there:
By the afternoon of April 16, information about some 5,400
people had been entered into the database. (Weiss, 2013)
Law enforcement officials and other Boston institutions used
social media to keep each other informed in real time. When
the Boston PD tweeted about a third incident that occurred at
JFK library, they reported they were unsure if it was related or
not to the two bombings. The JFK Library updated the Boston
PD on Twitter: “The fire in the building is out. Appears to have
started in the mechanical room. All staff and visitors are safe
and accounted for.” (Between the lines, 2013)
Help Identify the Suspects and Capture the Surviving Suspect
The two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were
identified, corners and captured through the grand scale
dissemination and collection of information, photos and videos
through social media. Twitter, Facebook and Internet websites
all are credited with the effort. (Presuitti, 2013) In the end, it
was the public’s connections to each other and to technology
that broke the case.
“Today we are enlisting the public’s help in identifying the two
suspects,” said FBI special agent Richard DesLauriers. The
photos released by the FBI of Suspect 1 and Suspect 2, as they
were known at the time, were instantaneously tweeted and re-
tweeted, Facebooked and Facebook shared. “Thousands of
marathon spectators flipped through their cell phone photos and
videos – to see if they could match the suspects later identified
as brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev,” according to the
Voice of America News. (Presuitti, 2013)
According to the New York Times, “The

8. Boston Marathon
bombings quickly turned into an Internet mystery that sent a
horde of amateur sleuths surging onto the Web in a search for
clues to the suspects’ identity…” (Katutani, 2013)
Boston PD used Twitter to provide a Task force tip line number
so people could call in if they had any tips on the case.
(Between the lines, 2013)
A gunfight in Watertown Massachusetts left one of the suspects
Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead; his brother Dzhokhar was injured, but
escaped. A manhunt commenced and thousands of police
officers searched Watertown. The FBI and Boston PD released
several images of the subject of their manhunt on social media:
and tweeted and posted a license plate linked to the suspect:
In the end, it was not a printed news release, phone calls or a
news conference that announced the capture of Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev. It came in two tweets posted by the Boston Police
Department:
“Suspect in custody. Officers sweeping the area. Stand by for
further info.”
“CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror
is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.”
Keep People and Law Enforcement Officials Safe
Terrorism experts said that social media helped people in
Boston and beyond determine their next steps after hearing

9. about the explosions.
“Authorities have recognized that one the first places people go
in events like this is to social media,” said Bill Braniff,
Executive Director of the
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response
to Terrorism
…”We know from crisis communication research that people
typically search for corroborating information before they take
a corrective action—their TV tells them there’s a tornado
brewing and they talk to relatives and neighbors. And now they
look at Twitter.” (Gilgoff, 2013)
The Boston PD used Twitter to instruct the people of Boston on
how to best remain safe and used Twitter and Facebook to tell
the residents of Watertown to stay indoors and not answer the
door unless they were instructed by a police officer to do so.
(Between the lines, 2013)
Social media was also used to keep law enforcement officials
safe – after reporters and the public began tweeting from police
scanner reports – giving away the location of officers involved
in the manhunt. Cheryl Fiandaca – head of the Boston Police
Department’s Bureau of Public Information, the agency
responsible for managing their social media accounts, said local
media, “know not to do that. They don’t give away where
officers are. But there were hundreds of reporters from all over
the country here. We wanted to let other media folks who aren’t
as familiar know what’s commonplace in Boston.” (Keller,
2013) The police department sent the following alerts:
#MediaAlert
: WARNING: Do Not Compromise Officer Safety by
Broadcasting Tactical Positions of Homes Being Searched.
#MediaAlert

10. : WARNING – Do Not Compromise Officer Safety/Tactics by
Broadcasting Live Video of Officers While Approaching Search
Locations
This “polite scolding” to those tweeting information from police
scanners was retweeted more than 20,000 times, higher than any
other tweet at that time. (Bar-Tur, 2013)
University of Maryland Digital Journalism professor Sean
Mussenden noted that “Journalists know not to tweet out police
scanner – the public does not. Even cub reporters know you do
not just write what’s on the scanner.” Boston proved it is
“Dangerous to put speed over accuracy – especially in terrorist
attack or a storm situation – it’s essential to take time to be
accurate.” (Mussenden, 2013)
Correct Misinformation
Twitter was used aggressively to correct misinformation. The
demand for constant updates, that fact that instant access to
information is available through the smart phone led to the
tweeting, posting, sharing and broadcasting of inaccurate
information during the event. The tension between speed versus
accuracy led to the communication of unverified information.
After CNN and the Associated Press wrongly reported that the
suspects were in custody, others picked up the news. Social
media did the rest. “No one wants to be the second source to
share this information, so thousands on social media, mostly
Twitter, began sharing the news. It took almost an hour and a
half for CNN to reverse its earlier report. The FBI even put out
a statement begging the media to “exercise caution.” (Ulanoff,
2013)
The social media site Reddit acknowledged its role in helping to
disseminate false information, saying, “Some of the activity on

11. Reddit fueled online witch hunts and dangerous speculation.”
Reddit also apologized to the family of missing Brown
University student Sunil Tripathi, who was misidentified on
social media as a bombing suspect. (Petrucca, 2013)
According to Fiandaca, the woman behind the Boston Police
Department’s Twitter account, “Twitter served as a great way to
correct misinformation. We enhanced our reputation by putting
out reliable and accurate information.” (Solomonmccown&,
2013).
The Boston Police moved to counteract the false claims that
were spreading across social networks. For example, on April
17, when, according to Businessweek, “The online news
ecosystem was in the midst of a
misinformation disaster
, with rumors gleaned from the official police scanner and from
inaccurate sources on major TV networks: A missing Brown
student had been identified, inaccurately, as one of the suspects,
and confusion reigned over the number of suspects involved in
the massive manhunt,” (Keller, 2013) and the Boston PD
tweeted:
“Despite reports to the contrary there has not been an arrest in
the Marathon attack.”
The department’s tweet clarifying that there was no arrest
shortly after the bombings saw more than 11,000 retweets. “By
the end of the dramatic affair even the media was on board, as
local reporters waited on a Boston Police tweet before officially
announcing the capture of the elusive suspect.” (Bar-Tur, 2013)
Ultimately, one of the lessons journalists learned from their
coverage of Boston Marathon bombings is that “being right is
better than being first.”
Globe

12. local news editor Jen Peter, reflecting on media coverage of the
bombings, noted that “on a normal day, being beaten on a scoop
would be ‘unpalatable’ to her. But during high-pressure
situations like the bombing and the events in Watertown, the
Globe
saw more outlets getting more negative feedback for spreading
incorrect information than positive feedback for a scoop. Peter
made the decision to ‘verify, verify, verify,’ even if the Globe
didn’t get it first” (Solomonmccown&, 2013)
Offer Community Support, Resources and Sympathy
Social media has the ability to create a sense of community
during and after disasters. People used social media to offer
strangers lodging, food or a hot shower when roads and hotels
were closed. People also offered prayers and sympathy for the
racers and the people of Boston. The hashtag #prayforboston
trended on Twitter and Topsy reported that from 4:30 p.m. to
5:30 p.m. more than 75,000 tweets mentioned “Pray for
Boston.” People also shared photos of Boston on Instagram with
the hashtag #prayforboston. (Stern, 2013) Others started to find
out how they could give in different ways, including donating
blood. (Stern, 2013)
“People were sharing as a community and grieving online.
Social media brought people together. That wouldn’t have
happened a few years ago,” according to Adam Gaffin, editor of
Universal Hub, a community news and information site for the
Boston area.” (Solomonmccown&, 2013)
A Boston Globe social media editor Adrienne Lavidor-Berman
was impressed that many more people read the positive stories
of people helping each other than stories about the bombers.
(Solomonmccown&, 2013)
Boston Police Department: The Social Media Infrastructure and

13. Community Relationship Were Built Long Before the Bombings
After Dzhokar Tsarnaev was arrested, Mashable — an online
media company that focuses on innovation and technology —
declared that the Boston Police department has “
schooled us all on social media
… the Boston PD’s presence online helps reinvent the whole
notion of community policing for the 21st century.” (Bar-Tur,
2013)
According to Businessweek, “That law enforcement agencies
such as the
Boston Police
and
Massachusetts State Police
took to social media to deliver information in the wake of the
twin explosions on Boylston Street is nothing special. The
Aurora, Colo., police
released breaking news through Twitter
following the mass shooting in a movie theater. Virtually every
police department now runs a Twitter feed for official
communications. What is unusual is how adroitly the officials
in charge of responding to the Boston tragedy took advantage of
social media…” (Keller, 2013)
Noting that “true engagement does not arise in a time of crisis,
but through preparation well ahead of the crisis,” Mashable
reported that “Even before the BPD’s follower count spiked this
week, from 40,000 to more than 300,000, the department
boasted more Twitter followers than most of the area’s local
media.” (Bar-Tur, 2013)
The department’s Twitter account was created in 2009 and was
first used to publish public safety instructions during the St.
Patrick’s Day parade. The department’s expanded its social-
media presence onto Facebook, YouTube video-streaming site

14. UStream. These social media accounts are handled by the
Bureau of Public Information
, with three officers responsible for the content. (Keller, 2013)
When the Marathon bombings occurred, the “infrastructure was
in place for the department to effectively handle the situation on
social media.” (Keller, 2013) Bureau chief Cheryl Fiandaca
explained “We staffed 24 hours. Someone was always here. We
tried to put out as much information as we possibly could
without jeopardizing the investigation.” (Keller, 2013)
In the end, the Boston PD was credited with accomplishing
“what no police department has done before: led conversation
with citizens in a time of crisis. They also listened, a step that
is more remarkable than it sounds for many large organizations,
let alone law enforcement. They used Twitter to track and
correct the misinformation that media outlets spread.” (Bar-
Tur, 2013)
One of the Boston police officers responsible for the social
media content put it more succinctly: “We don’t break news.
We are the news.” (Keller, 2013)
About the Authors
George Haddow currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the
Homeland Security Studies Program and the Disaster Resilience
Leadership Academy at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA.
Prior to joining Tulane University, Mr. Haddow served as an
Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk
Management at The George Washington University,
Washington, DC.
He is a co-author of several university textbooks including,
Introduction to Homeland Security (5th

15. Edition), Disaster Communications in a Changing Media World
(2nd
Edition)
and
Introduction to Emergency Management (5th
Edition).
Prior to joining The George Washington University, Mr.
Haddow was appointed to serve by President Bill Clinton for
eight years in the Office of the Director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the White House
Liaison and the Deputy Chief of Staff. He also served as the
Interim Director of FEMA’s Office of Public Affairs during
Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Y2K. He is a founding partner of
Bullock and Haddow LLC, a disaster management consulting
firm.
Kim Haddow is the president of Haddow Communications in
New Orleans – a company specializing in strategic media
planning, messaging, and developing research-driven media
content, branding and advertising materials for non-profits.
Clients have included: the Rockefeller Family Fund, Sierra
Club, Make It Right Foundation, U.S. State Department, Public
Campaign, and the Trust for America’s Health. Haddow also
worked for eight years at Greer, Margolis, Mitchell, Burns
(GMMB), a Washington, DC- based media consulting firm,
advising political campaigns and non-profits. Haddow began her
career at WWL-AM in New Orleans where she managed the
news department.
In order to meet content needs in growing areas such as
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16. giving students, practitioners, and researchers the content they
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