Advertisement

The social role of social media: the case of Chennai rains-2015

  • Mayank YadavEmail author
  • Zillur Rahman
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

Social media has altered the way individuals communicate in present scenario. Individuals feel more connected on Facebook and Twitter with greater communication freedom to chat, share pictures, and videos. Hence, social media is widely employed by various companies to promote their product and services and establish better customer relationships. Owing to the increasing popularity of these social media platforms, their usage is also expanding significantly. Various studies have discussed the importance of social media in the corporate world for effective marketing communication, customer relationships, and firm performance, but no studies have focused on the social role of social media, i.e., in disaster resilience in India. Various academicians and practitioners have advocated the importance and use of social media in disaster resilience. This article focuses on the role that social media can play during the time of natural disasters, with the help of the recent case of Chennai floods in India. This study provides a better understanding about the role social media can play in natural disaster resilience in Indian context.

Keywords

Social media Disaster management Disaster resilience Crowdsourcing Floods 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Alexander DE (2014) Social media in disaster risk reduction and crisis management. Sci Eng Ethics 20(3):717–733CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Alexander RM, Gentry JK (2014) Using social media to report financial results. Bus Horiz 57(2):161–167CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. American Red Cross (2012). More Americans using mobile apps in emergencies. American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/news/press-release/More-Americans-Using-Mobile-Apps-in-Emergencies
  4. Anikeeva O, Steenkamp M, Arbon P (2015) The future of social media use during emergencies in Australia: insights from the 2014 Australian and New Zealand Disaster and emergency management conference social media workshop. Aust J Emerg Manag 30(1):22–26Google Scholar
  5. Bird D, Ling M, Haynes K (2012) Flooding Facebook-the use of social media during the Queensland and Victorian floods. Aust J Emerg Manag 27(1):27–33Google Scholar
  6. Blanchard H, Carvin A, Whittaker ME, Fitzgerald M, Harman W, Humphrey B (2010) The case for integrating crisis response with social media. White paper. American Red Cross, WashingtonGoogle Scholar
  7. Brodie RJ, Ilic A, Juric B, Hollebeek L (2013) Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: an exploratory analysis. J Bus Res 66(1):105–114CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Castillo C, Mendoza M, Poblete B (2011) Information credibility on twitter. In: Proceedings of the 20th international conference on world wide web. ACM, pp 675–684Google Scholar
  9. Cheng JW, Mitomo H, Otsuka T, Jeon SY (2016) Cultivation effects of mass and social media on perceptions and behavioural intentions in post-disaster recovery: the case of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Telemat Inf 33(3):753–772CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Cheong F, Cheong C (2011) Social media data mining: a social network analysis of tweets during the 2010–2011 Australian floods. In: PACIS 2011, pp 46–46Google Scholar
  11. Christodoulides G, Jevons C, Bonhomme J (2012) Memo to marketers: quantitative evidence for change: how user-generated content really affects brands? J Advert Res 52(1):53–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Dabner N (2012) ‘Breaking Ground’in the use of social media: a case study of a university earthquake response to inform educational design with Facebook. Internet High Educ 15(1):69–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Dufty N (2012) Using social media to build community disaster resilience. Aust J Emerg Manag 27(1):40–45Google Scholar
  15. Dufty N (2015) The use of social media in countrywide disaster risk reduction public awareness strategies. Aust J Emerg Manag 30(1):12–16Google Scholar
  16. Eksi A, Çelikli S, Kiyan GS (2014) The effects of social networking on disaster communication used by the emergency medical and rescue staff-the case of the Van Earthquake. J Acad Emerg Med 13(2):58CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Elizabeth S, Vaitheesvaran B (2 Dec 2014) Chennai floods: Google spreadsheet comes to city’s rescue. Retrieved from the economic times. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-12-02/news/68717517_1_people-and-places-google-details
  18. Endsley MR (1995) Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems. Hum Factors 37(1):32–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Facebook (27 Jan 2016) Investor relations. Retrieved from Facebook. http://investor.fb.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=952040
  20. Feldman D, Contreras S, Karlin B, Basolo V, Matthew R, Sanders B, Houston D, Cheung W, Goodrich K, Reyes A, Serrano K, Schubert J, Luke A (2016) Communicating flood risk: looking back and forward at traditional and social media outlets. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 15:43–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Floreddu PB, Cabiddu F, Evaristo R (2014) Inside your social media ring: how to optimize online corporate reputation. Bus Horiz 57(6):737–745CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Forbes ( May2015) The World’s most valuable brands. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/companies/facebook/
  23. Gao H, Barbier G, Goolsby R (2011) Harnessing the crowdsourcing power of social media for disaster relief. IEEE Intell Syst 3:10–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. GISocial (Dec 10 2015) Impact of social media on Chennai floods. Retrieved from GI Social Blog. https://www.gisocial.com/blog/59/social-media/impact-social-media-chennai-floods
  25. Goolsby R (2010) Social media as crisis platform: the future of community maps/crisis maps. ACM Trans Intell Syst Technol (TIST) 1(1):1–11CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Gruner RL, Homburg C, Lukas BA (2014) Firm-hosted online brand communities and new product success. J Acad Mark Sci 42(1):29–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. He W, Guo L, Shen J, Akula V (2016) Social media-based forecasting: a case study of tweets and stock prices in the financial services industry. J Organ End User Comput (JOEUC) 28(2):74–91 (He et al. 2016) CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Hindustan Times (3 Dec 2015) Facebook and Google deploy tools for Chennai rains. Retrieved from Hindustan Times. http://www.hindustantimes.com/tech/facebook-activates-safety-check-tool-for-chennai-rains/story-tR3XAZGRUlPxODtGQWntxH.html
  29. Hjorth L, Kim KHY (2011a) Good grief: the role of social mobile media in the 3.11 earthquake disaster in Japan. Dig Creat 22(3):187–199CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Hjorth L, Kim KHY (2011b) The Mourning after: a case study of social media in the 3.11 earthquake disaster in Japan. Telev New Media 12(6):552–559CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Houston JB, Hawthorne J, Perreault MF, Park EH, Hode MG, Halliwell MR, McGowen SET, Davis R, Vaid S, Mcelderry JA, Griffith SA (2015) Social media and disasters: a functional framework for social media use in disaster planning, response, and research. Disasters 39(1):1–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Jung JY, Moro M (2014) Multi-level functionality of social media in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Disasters 38(2):123–143CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Kamel SH (2014) Egypt’s ongoing uprising and the role of social media: is there development? Inf Technol Dev 20(1):78–91MathSciNetCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Kaplan AM, Haenlein M (2010) Users of the world, unite! the challenges and opportunities of social media. Bus Horiz 53(1):59–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Kongthon A, Haruechaiyasak C, Pailai J, Kongyoung S (2014) The role of social media during a natural disaster: a case study of the 2011 Thai flood. Int J Innov Technol Manag 11(03):1440012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Kotteswaran CS (6 Dec 2015) Tamil Nadu: Chennai floods cause a loss of Rs 50,000-cr. Retrieved from Deccan Chronicle. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/151206/nation-current-affairs/article/chennai-floods-caused-loss-50-thousand-crore
  37. Kumar V, Bhaskaran V, Mirchandani R, Shah M (2013) Practice prize winner-creating a measurable social media marketing strategy: increasing the value and ROI of intangibles and tangibles for hokey pokey. Mark Sci 32(2):194–212CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Lamm C, Batson CD, Decety J (2007) The neural substrate of human empathy: effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal. J Cogn Neurosci 19(1):42–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Lindsay BR (2011) Social media and disasters: current uses, future options, and policy considerations. US congressional research service report on homeland securityGoogle Scholar
  40. Lipowicz A (Sept 2011) Social media: A mixed blessing for disaster response. Retrieved from FCW. https://fcw.com/articles/2011/09/16/social-media-for-disasters-has-good-and-bad-aspects-crs-report-says.aspx
  41. Liu BF, Fraustino JD, Jin Y (2015) How disaster information form, source, type, and prior disaster exposure affect public outcomes: jumping on the social media bandwagon? J Appl Commun Res 43(1):44–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Neubaum G, Rösner L, Rosenthal-von der Pütten AM, Krämer NC (2014) Psychosocial functions of social media usage in a disaster situation: a multi-methodological approach. Comput Hum Behav 34:28–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Pandey V (2 Dec 2015) How Chennai residents are helping flood affected via social media. Retrieved from BBC news. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34981360
  44. Qu Y, Huang C, Zhang P, Zhang J (Mar 2011) Microblogging after a major disaster in China: a case study of the 2010 Yushu earthquake. In: Proceedings of the ACM 2011 conference on computer supported cooperative work, pp 25–34Google Scholar
  45. Queensland Police (2013) Disaster management and social media: a case study. Retrieved from Queensland Police. https://www.police.qld.gov.au/corporatedocs/reportsPublications/other/Documents/QPSSocialMediaCaseStudy.pdf
  46. Qureshi S (2013) In the age of popular uprisings, what is the role of public access computing and social media on development? Inf Technol Dev 19(4):267–270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Qureshi S (2014) Lessons from the age of Nelson Mandela: information and communication technology in the quest for equality, freedom and justice. Inf Technol Dev 20(1):1–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Raha AS (17 Dec 2015) Indian Red Cross helps reunite families separated by worst flooding in decades. Retrieved from International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/asia-pacific/india/indian-red-cross-helps-reunite-families-separated-by-worst-flooding-in-decades-70769/
  49. Raman A (2015) How do social media, mobility, analytics and cloud computing impact nonprofit organizations? a pluralistic study of information and communication technologies in indian context. Inf Technol Dev 22(3):400–421CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Resnyansky L (2014) Social media, disaster studies, and human communication. IEEE Technol Soc Mag 33(1):54–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Rodriguez H, Diaz W, Santos JM, Aguirre BE (2007) Communicating risk and uncertainty: science, technology, and disasters at the crossroads. In: Handbook of disaster research. Springer, New York, pp 476–488. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-32353-4_29
  52. Rogstadius J, Vukovic M, Teixeira CA, Kostakos V, Karapanos E, Laredo JA (2013) CrisisTracker: crowdsourced social media curation for disaster awareness. IBM J Res Dev 57(5):4:1–4:13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Simon T, Goldberg A, Adini B (2015) Socializing in emergencies—a review of the use of social media in emergency situations. Int J Inf Manage 35(5):609–619CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Sutton J, Palen L, Shklovski I (2008) Emergent use of social media in the 2007 southern california wildfires. In: Proceedings of the 5th international ISCRAM conferenceGoogle Scholar
  55. Taylor M, Wells G, Howell G, Raphael B (2012) The role of social media as psychological first aid as a support to community resilience building. Aust J Emerg Manag 27(1):20Google Scholar
  56. Tech Desk (2015) Chennai floods: Facebook safety check, Google’s crisis response page go live. Retrieved from The Indian Express. http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/social/facebook-activates-safety-check-feature-in-chennai-for-floods/
  57. Thielst CB (2010) Engaging staff with social media: using these tools can help increase customer, physician and employee satisfaction. Healthc Exec 26(6):52–54Google Scholar
  58. Tiago MTPMB, Veríssimo JMC (2014) Digital marketing and social media: why bother? Bus Horiz 57(6):703–708CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Vieweg S, Hughes AL, Starbird K, Palen L (Apr 2010) Microblogging during two natural hazards events: what twitter may contribute to situational awareness? In: Proceedings of the ACM conference on computer human interaction, pp 1079–1088Google Scholar
  60. White CM (2011) Social media, crisis communication, and emergency management: leveraging web 2.0 technologies. CRC Press, Boca RatonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Wiederhold BK (2013) In a disaster, social media has the power to save lives. Cyber Behav Soc Netw 16(11):781–782CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  62. Yadav M, Kamboj S, Rahman Z (2016) Customer co-creation through social media: the case of ‘Crash the Pepsi IPL 2015′. J Direct Data Dig Mark Pract 17(4):259–271. doi: 10.1057/dddmp.2016.4 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Yates D, Paquette S (2011) Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies: a case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Int J Inf Manage 31(1):6–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  64. Yates C, Partridge H (2015) Citizens and social media in times of natural disaster: exploring information experience. Inf Res 20(1):1–24Google Scholar
  65. Yin J, Lampert A, Cameron M, Robinson B, Power R (2012) Using social media to enhance emergency situation awareness. IEEE Intell Syst 6:52–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Wien 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Management StudiesIndian Institute of TechnologyRoorkeeIndia

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options