The Role of Social Media in Disaster: New Survey and Forthcoming Meeting

After the earthquake in Haiti, the American Red Cross started to receive Twitter messages from people who had family members trapped under collapsed buildings—but the organization didn’t have a coordinated way to get that information to emergency personnel in Haiti who could actually help.

Suspecting that it wasn’t the only relief group receiving pleas for assistance through social networks, the Red Cross organized the Emergency Social Data Summit to bring together government officials, nonprofit leaders, and social-media experts to discuss how to handle information coming in through the Web during disasters.

Most of the meeting, which will take place on Thursday starting at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern time, will be streamed live over the Internet.

People interested in the topic can also follow the proceedings on a blog set up for the event or by using the Twitter hashtag #crisisdata.

In anticipation of the meeting, the Red Cross commissioned an online survey of 1,058 adults that asked them about their use of social media during times of crisis.

One in five survey participants said if they needed help during an emergency and weren’t able to get through to 911, they would try to get help by e-mail, Web sites, or social media.

Nearly seven out of 10 respondents—69 percent—said that emergency responders should monitor their Web sites and social-media sites for requests for help.

Nearly three-quarters of survey participants—74 percent—said they expected help to arrive within an hour.