Twitter and Disasters: The uses of Twitter during the 2010 Pakistan floods

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Murthy, Dhiraj and Longwell, Scott A.. 2013. Twitter and Disasters: The uses of Twitter during the 2010 Pakistan floods. Information, Communication & Society, 16(6), pp. 837-855. ISSN 1369-118X [Article]

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Official URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118...

Abstract or Description

This research explores the specific use of the prominent social media website Twitter during the 2010 Pakistan floods to examine whether users tend to tweet/retweet links from traditional versus social media, what countries these users are tweeting from, and whether there is a correlation between location and the linking of traditional versus social media. The study finds that Western users have an overwhelming preference for linking to traditional media and Pakistani users have a slight preference for linking to social media. The study also concludes that authorities and hubs in our sample have a significant preference for linking to social media rather than traditional media sites. The findings of this study suggest that there is a perceived legitimacy of social media during disasters by users in Pakistan. Additionally, it provides insights into how social media may be – albeit minimally – challenging the dominant position of traditional media in disaster reporting in developing countries.

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Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.696123