Twitter and Emergencies
This study, published by the Renssealer Polytechnic Institute, examines information cascades as they are demonstrated on Twitter during emergency situations. The study found a number of characteristics of tweets sent about and during emergencies that differ from non-emergency tweets; mainly, that they tend to contain more URLs, and that there are less directed and reply tweets. Also, in order to have messages propagate through a network, each user must see and respond to the information being shared in a timely manner. There are other factors that can influence what information a Twitter user chooses to share, such as their proximity to the event. Users closer to the event tend to retweet more specific information relevant to other people in close proximity, while people further away from the emergency event will retweet more general information. Users get their information either from information sources, or from their friends who relay information themselves. Each information source also has a perceived information value, which will affect how the information spreads through Twitter’s many networks.
The study found that in general, information cascades during emergencies start at a few highly-connected information sources, and spread through the users who follow that particular source’s Twitter handle. Information sources sometimes send direct messages to informal sources asking for more information, which gives the information source control over where the information from that source is sent next. In addition, media sources will sometimes retweet each other, circulating the information into their network without changing it.
I think that Twitter might be the best method to quickly circulate information about emergencies in 2016. The forced concision of the platform means that more people obsessively checking their feeds will get information in minutes, without having to search it out for themselves. Also, with replies and retweets, useful details about the event can be contributed by anyone and spread throughout the network very quickly, if retweeted by a highly connected and trusted source. The mechanics of Twitter and the way information cascades happen make it a viable, maybe even preferred, method of getting information and updates during emergencies.