Instructions: Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct questions. You may challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process at this academic level.

Forum posts are graded on timeliness, relevance, knowledge of the weekly readings, and the quality of original ideas. While proper APA is not required, attribution to sources that informed your posting should be included. Refer to the grading rubric for additional details concerning grading criteria.

RESPOND TO Shelby:

Good evening everyone,

I am very sorry for the late response to this forum post.

My research question is as follows; is the effect of social media on crisis communication positive or negative? Overall, the most significant finding that I determined from my research was that this effect is indeed positive. Social media has paved a new path in the crisis communication realm. The usage of social media has become so dependent on the crisis communication planning process within the last few years that we have begun to see an increase in responsivity and cities are becoming more prepared for disasters overall, and people are becoming informed about evolving situations much more quickly. Of course, there is always room for improvement, and social media will continue to evolve as well and I have no doubts that the resources that are being used today will continue to get better as time goes on. My research also focused on how social media was used during the Boston Marathon bombings in terms of crisis communication. It was found from my research that social media was a major player in the bombings response, as the terrorists were caught within days because of the social media presence. Boston was a very extraordinary case, as they were very prepared for something of this magnitude to occur, simply because they used extensive pieces of training and their crisis communication game was outstanding.

I found a lot of resources that were beneficial for my research. One resource that I used was written by Dr. Seminara herself, which was a case study on the Boston Marathon bombings and how it related to crisis communication and social media. I am very thankful that she allowed me to use this source in my research, as it made the process much easier and was full of knowledge that benefited my research greatly. Another source that I utilized quite a bit for my research was an article published by Eriksson and Olssen (2016) that focused on how social media is used in crisis communication. This article helped me to see how social media is being used by entities from various levels of government, giving me a full, well-rounded perspective of the situation. Finally, a third source that I utilized quite a bit was one from the Boston EMS, which gave me insight into the response from the officials on the day of the attack. It was amazing to see just how quickly Boston responded to the bombs initially, and especially with how quickly they were able to clear the scene of the bombing sites. This research has proved that to be prepared for a crisis, it is essential to learn how to properly utilize social media and once this is accomplished, to take advantage of social media because it allows for agencies and organizations to reach a large group of people at one time. I was definitely able to learn quite a bit about this topic and I am very proud of the thesis that I have put together.

References

Haley, R. Y. (2014). 117th Boston Marathon: April 15, 2013. Boston Emergency Medical Services.

Seminara, C. (2015). Meta-Leadership (workshop participant guide). Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Eriksson, M., & Olsson, E. (2016). Facebook and Twitter in crisis communication: A comparative study of crisis communication professionals and citizens. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 24(4), 198-208.