Disaster Recovery and Social Media Use

• In Event: Frontiers of Disaster and Crisis Knowledge

Abstract

Hurricane Harvey has been labeled “America’s First Social Media Disaster.” However, we still know little about causal linkages between social media use and individual recovery. With an original dataset collected from 11 days of field research in Houston following Hurricane Harvey, this study compares how individuals used Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor on a day-to-day basis (e.g. staying in touch with neighbors, staying in touch with family and friends, staying in touch with professional contacts, buying and selling, planing and/or responding to community events, or monitoring Crime and Safety alerts), measures trust in- and familiarity with neighbors, and explores linkages to neighbor-assisted debris removal. Controlling for age, gender, income, education, race, and tenure, and also testing for levels of offline community engagement (e.g. number of times individuals go to a neighbor’s home or host their neighbors), findings reveal that individuals who used Facebook on a daily basis to stay in touch with neighbors were more likely to trust and know their neighbors and also receive help from neighbors to collect and pile debris during the mucking phase following Hurricane Harvey. This study identifies important differences in the recovery phase across these three platforms, and more specifically, the utility of using these platforms to build and maintain local ties. The findings of this study dispel previous arguments that increased online social media use has negative social implications for individuals. Rather, social media platforms offer some a third space to build trust and familiarity.

Author

• Courtney Page-Tan, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University WW