How social networks can save lives when disaster strikes
https://phys.org/news/2018-09-social-networks-disasters.html
In the attached article, the author uses data from social media networks to analyze evacuation patterns based on information that these people shared publicly on social media, before and after hurricanes. The resulting finding was that social networks, especially to those beyond immediate family, influence decisions to leave or stay before disasters. The social ties between users were categorized into three different types: bonding ties which connected people to their immediate family, bridging ties which connected people through a shared interest, workplace, or place of worship, and linking ties which connected people to positions in power.
Overall, individuals with more connections beyond their immediate families and close friends were more likely to evacuate before a hurricane. People with stronger bonding ties would be less likely to evacuate; this is possibly because by keeping family and friends near, they feel more supported and better prepared to weather the storm. One woman told a reporter she had to stay because she didn’t want to leave her family and friends unprotected, and staying in places could lead to a higher likelihood of rebuilding in existing neighborhoods. On the other hand, people with more bridging ties have far-reaching social networks, so they may be more willing to move to their connections outside of the hurricane area. They may have also made these connections through moving or traveling more, so they may be more comfortable leaving their home behind. Likewise, people with more linking ties have more connections to politicians and political figures, and are more likely to trust authority figures telling them to evacuate.
The use of networks to analyze hurricane evacuation patterns was surprisingly effective: multiple clear connections were made between who evacuated the area and which groups of people they were most connected with on social media. It helped me to imagine how our tasks of drawing strong and weak link lines on our problem sets would actually have practical applications, and to see the broad scope that this skill could apply to. With the knowledge of evacuation patterns, we may now be able to effectively pinpoint groups of people who are reluctant to evacuate and, possibly through expanding their networks, bring them to safety.