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Friday, 13th August 2010

Findings/Presentation: American Red Cross: Social Media and Its Use During Disasters & Emergencies

Social Media Grows Up – Red Cross Emergency Social Data Summit

Could a “tweet” help save a life? It can, and it has. Although many people know social media as the realm of mostly lighthearted tweets and status updates, a growing contingent are seeing—and using—this technology as a tool in emergencies.

The research backs it up. A recent Red Cross survey asked 1,058 adults about their use of social media sites in emergency situations. It found that if they needed help and couldn’t reach 9-1-1, one in five would try to contact responders through a digital means such as e-mail, websites or social media. If web users knew of someone else who needed help, 44 percent would ask other people in their social network to contact authorities, 35 percent would post a request for help directly on a response agency’s Facebook page and 28 percent would send a direct Twitter message to responders.

Addressing this trend, the American Red Cross recently hosted an Emergency Social Data Summit at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. More than 150 people—leaders and experts in the government, social media, emergency response and the non-profit sectors—attended the full-day summit to discuss better ways to handle information that flows through the web during disasters.

Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern opened the summit with remarks, emphasizing that these issues are ones that could save lives. “I can’t think of anything more noble and exciting than that,” she said.

+ Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies (slides; PDF)

Source: American Red Cross


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