The Importance of Social Media During a Crisis

Written by: Kurt Holliday, Communications Specialist, Pennsylvania Public Health Training Center
Copy editor: Jennifer Kolker, MPH, Co-Principal Investigator, Pennsylvania Public Health Training Center

Social media is an interactive online communication method that offers the ability to provide immediate information, create dynamic relationships with the community, and disseminate information to media outlets. While some people view social media as a form of online entertainment, public health professionals are recognizing the importance of social media during a crisis.

According to 2013 trend data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project,¹ 84 percent of the United States population uses the Internet with 67 percent of those users accessing social network site such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google Plus. These percentages are rapidly growing as ownership of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets continue to skyrocket in popularity.

Social media is emerging as the overwhelming driver of news. During a crisis, over two-thirds of all mainstream media outlets have acknowledged that they seek out information from the responding agency through social media.² As a responding agency during a crisis, it is important to engage this audience as they seek out more information. If the agency is not engaging, the media outlets will turn to other social media sources for information. It is the 21^st century equivalent to not returning a reporter’s phone calls.

With such a large importance being placed on social media, 68 percent of the nation's county emergency management agencies, and 85 percent of the nation's local response agencies reported using social media in 2012.³ The primary barriers to effective implementation of social media in emergency management agencies have been noted as a lack of dedicated personnel and the lack of commitment from senior leadership. In order to overcome these barriers, social media needs to become an embedded element of a communications plan with clearly established goals of social media usage. As senior management becomes more comfortable about broader support of social media as an important communications method, the support for personnel and percentage of social media usage should increase.

Social media has become an essential communications method and public health professionals are recognizing its importance. As 2013 progresses, social media will continue to play an important role in crisis management and all aspects of public health can benefit from learning how to use social media to meet public health goals.

[1] Pew Internet & American Life Project - http://pewinternet.org/
[2] Crisis Emergency and Risk Communication 2012 Edition. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Page 259. http://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/pdf/CERC_2012edition.pdf
[3] Social Media in the Emergency Management Field 2012 Survey Results. CNA Analysis & Solutions. Page 26. http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/SocialMedia_EmergencyManagement.pdf