Aftercare for victims and relatives Maintain contact with family/friends Search missing people Coordination of volunteers Mobilisation of volunteers Search for witnesses Building a relation and between authorities and the public Obtain and provide feedback Risks associated with using social media in emergencies Furthermore, some should be considered before using social media in crisis management: Verification/quality evaluation of information [BlKa11] Difficult to correct false information/reports [BlKa11] Needs of human resources [BlKa11] and staff training, budget needs Maintaining social media accounts (especially during a crisis) needs time [BlKa11] Information overload especially during a crisis Suspicion of innocents [PYKI+13] Fast dissemination of confidential information e.g. police information [PYKI+13] Expectations of citizen/expecting quick answers [BlKa11] Emergency calls through social media [PYKI+13] Perceived coercion for “non social media user” to use it to stay up to date Organisational and professional factors inhibiting the use of social media In the case study analysis performed during EmerGent, we highlighted four key organisational and professional factors inhibiting the use of social media in emergencies [SJCD+16]: Lack of organisational structures and procedures in place: the structures and networks already developed in emergency services to support the use of social media are usually limited, including the technical infrastructure. In Wroclaw floods, for example, the website of the city of Wroclaw was down throughout most of the emergency, so there was no information available on help and support. Ironically, this created the opportunity for
Table 2: List of guidelines for the use of social media in general No. Title Publisher Year Country / Region 1.01 The health communicator’s social media toolkit [CDC11b] Centers for disease control and prevention 2014 USA 1.02 Verification Handbook - An ultimate guideline on digital age sourcing for emergency coverage [WWW05] European Journalism Centre (multiple authors) 2014 EU 1.03 Social engagement handbook 2.0 American Red Cross 2012 USA 1.04 Social media handbook United States Army 2014 USA 1.05 Ein Leitfaden zum Umgang mit Social Media im DRK [DRK11] Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (DRK) 2012 Germany 1.06 Social-Media-Guideline - Empfehlungen für einen sicheren Umgang mit sozialen Medien [BFW12] Berliner Feuerwehr 2012 Germany 1.07 Verhalten in sozialen Netzwerken [BTHW11] Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk 2011 Germany 1.08 Das soziale ins Netz bringen – die Caritas und soziale Medien [DCV11] Deutscher Caritasverband 2014 Germany 1.09 Social media guidelines for IFRC staff [IFRC09] International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) 2009 International 1.10 Social Media - Guidelines for Canadian Red Cross Staff and Volunteers [CRC13] Canadian Red Cross 2013 Canada 1.11 Rotkreuz-Social-Media-Policy [ARK10] Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz 2010 Austria 1.12 ACT Government Social Media Policy Guidelines [ACTG12] ACT Government 2012 Australia 1.13 Social Media in der Hamburgischen Verwaltung - Hinweise, Rahmenbedingungen und Beispiele [FHH12] Freie Hansestadt Hamburg 2012 Germany 1.14 Social Media Guidelines and Best Practices - Facebook [CDC12b] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2012 USA 1.15 Social Guidelines and Best Practices - CDC Twitter Profiles [CDC11a] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2011 USA 1.16 CDC's Guide to Writing for Social Media [CDC12a] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2012 USA
Table 3: List of guidelines for the use of social media in crisis management No. Publisher Year Country / Region 2.01 Guidelines for the use of new media in crisis situations [HVGS+15] COSMIC project 2014 EU 2.02 Warning and informing Scotland using social media in emergencies [ScGo12] Scottish Government 2012 Scotland 2.03 Social media for emergency management - a good practice guide [WREM14] Wellington region emergency management office (New Zealand) 2014 New Zealand 2.04 Emergency 2.0 Wiki [WWW29] Emergency 2.0 Wiki International 2.05 Social Media in an emergency: Developing a Best Practice Guide Literature Review Opus International Consultants Limited (New Zealand) 2012 New Zealand 2.06 Using social media for emergency notifications - 7 questions for emergency managers to consider Twenty First Century Communications, Inc., technology company in Ohio, USA USA 2.07 Social Media in Emergencies - UNICEF Guidelines for Communication and Public Advocacy [Unic12] Twenty First Century Communications, Inc., technology company in Ohio, USA 2012 USA 2.08 Smart tips for category 1 responders using social media in emergency management [DSTL12] Defense Science and Technology Laboratory 2012 UK 2.09 Crisis communications and social media- A best practice guide to communicating an emergency IATA 2014 International 2.10 Next Steps: Social Media for Emergency Response Homeland Security 2012 USA 2.11 Using Web 2.0 applications and Semantic Technologies to strengthen public resilience to disasters Disaster 2.0 2013 EU 2.12 Bevölkerungsschutz: Social Media Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe 2014 Germany