CeDEM Asia 2014

1. Flooded Country, Flooded Internet
Analysis of Facebook Use in Bosnia and Herzegovina in
Times of Emergency
CeDEM-Asia-2014
December 4 - 6, 2014
Dragana Lazic
University of Tsukuba,
Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences

2. Introduction
Source: AFP/http://www.sott.net/article/279401-Balkans-floods-trigger-Bosnias-worst-exodus-since-war-deathtoll-rises-to-at-
least-47
Population:
3.8 million

3. Mid-May 2014: low-pressure system “Tamara”
caused unprecedented floods and landslides
 1.5 million people were directly or indirectly affected
 60 directly affected municipalities (of 142)
 Estimated damage: 1.3 billion Euro
 Infrastructure: housing, local services, energy,
transportation, water and sanitation and agriculture

5. Substantial media attention
Increase in the use of social network sites:
Facebook and Twitter
Traditional media and the state were criticized
for their poor performances:
the three biggest PBS TV stations missed
the opportunity to warn citizens or to offer
up-to-date information

7. Research Questions:
 How did Internet users in Bosnia and
Herzegovina use Facebook for emergency
response during the floods in May 2014?
 What were the main differences between
pages/groups created during this event?

8. Literature Review
SNS and Disaster/Crisis/Emergencies:
 Serve as a backchannel communication tools and “virtual destinations”
(Palen and Vieweg, 2008)
 Enable a wide scale interaction among members of public, as well as a
primary emergency communication tool (Palen et al., 2009; Palen and
Vieweg, 2008)
 A grassroots source of rescue and response information
 A tool that enables local groups to improvise informal relief efforts, and a
tool for expressing emotions and evaluation (Palen et al., 2009; Huges and
Palen 2009; Palen and Liu, 2007; Sutton et al. 2008).
 In Japan: Twitter, Facebook, and Mixi were the most effective channels for
information distribution:
serving as “peoplefinders,” tools to match needs and supplies, and
sources of first reports on radiation (Slater et al., 2012)
Twitter played a prosocial role and became a basis for building social
capital during the disaster (Kaigo, 2012)

9. Methodology
 Content analysis
 First 7 days into the crisis: May 14 - 20, 2014
 Search: a combination of words “poplave”, “Bosna i
Hercegovina”, and/or names of the most affected
communities, e.g. “Doboj,” “Banja Luka”
 The initial search: 67 pages/groups  5
 Ванредно стање ДОБОЈ (State of Emergency Doboj):
created to cater to the needs of the population in an urban
area that was completely cut off by the floods;
appointed temporary military governance during this period.
 In total: 628 posts

10. Results
Facebook Page/Group No. of posts
Poplave opcina Odzak i okolina. / Floods Municipality of Odzak and Surrounding
Areas.(G)
290
Ванредно стање ДОБОЈ / State of Emergency Doboj (P) 114
Poplave u BiH /Floods in BiH (P) 75
Poplave Republika Srpska/ Floods Republika Srpska (P) 62
Mapa poplava BiH /Floods Map BiH (P) 59
Poplave Banja Luka- Nudim-trazim pomoc u namjestaju i tehnici / Floods Banja
Luka I Offer - I Seek Help in the Form of Furniture and Appliances (G)
28
Total 628
Table 1: Number of posts per page/group

11. Table 2. Frequency of different themes related to the floods
Posts - Themes 1* 2 3 4 5 6 Total
Emergency and information on current situation and damage
(transportation; water and energy supply; information from state
agencies dealing with emergencies; emergency numbers, car
insurance related info, house sanitization, etc.)
52 20 0 17 15 0 104
Posts asking for help (for oneself and/or others) 7 22 0 2 9 3 43
Posts asking for information on people’s whereabouts (asking
information about people or their whereabouts; lists of missing
people, etc.)
39 14 0 0 2 0 55
Posts addressing false information and rumors 4 6 0 2 2 1 15
Donation, volunteering, humanitarian aid from abroad 29 22 8 10 25 8 102
Posts related to a politician, political party, or government 0 0 0 23 0 0 23
News (shared from other mainstream or online news outlets) 20 5 2 1 0 0 28
Photos/videos of affected areas 101 16 64 6 5 0 192
Other 38 9 1 1 1 16 66
Total 628

12. Floods Municipality of Odzak and Surrounding
 Emergency information on (52); posts asking for information on people’s
whereabouts (39); photos/videos of affected areas (101); news shared from
other mainstream or online news outlets (20)
 May 19: a user appealed to other group members to send their photos to a
public broadcast TV station in order to raise awareness on their problems
 Almost equal frequency of posts during a- three-day-period: May 17- 19.
State of Emergency Doboj
 Donation, volunteering, humanitarian aid from abroad (22); posts asking
for help (for oneself and/or others) (22); emergency and information on
current situation and damage (20)
 Posts about irregularities with aid distribution, e.g. post on page State of
Emergency Doboj “aid not to be given to the authorities!”

13. In Lieu of Discussion and Conclusion
Flooded Country, Flooded Internet?
(1) Three types of posts were dominant:
 Photos about floods and damages in their vicinity (very few photos
represented individuals in distress)
 Information about disrupted transportation, and other emergency information
and practical advice
 Humanitarian aid and volunteering
(2) Facebook was used as a “backchannel” of communication, which in turn
enabled extensive interactions :
 Interactions were translated into a formation of online communities which
provided social support via self-help and self-reliance with a potential spillover
effect to other communities
 Collective action was facilitated among people who previously did not know
each other

14. (3) Members did not only share information, and organize relief
assistance, but expressed a sense of solidarity, a feature rarely seen
on this scale in the country
Motive for Facebook use: shared perception among members that
they were abandoned by the (failed) state and its authorities, as well
as forgotten by some of the more traditional media which they usually
rely on when seeking information
Did social media incited panic during the May Floods?
Facebook users did not use this social network for the mass spread of
false information. In some instances Facebook was used to address
irregularities with aid distribution, and mistrust in local government(s).