Quiz2

Quiz 2: The Boston Strong

1. While Social Media served as the greatest source of information during a time of crisis, why was it a double-edged sword?

Social media has many positive and negative impacts on crisis communication, making it a double-edged sword. This is no more evident than in the case of the Boston Marathon bombings of April 15, 2013. During and following this crisis, social media provided benefits to the public which traditional media outlets could not. Perhaps the most important of these, the easy and speed of dissemination. Through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, Information reached a global audience instantaneously. Not only was a wealth of information disseminated through these outlets, but personally-tailored content allowed people around the world to make sure their loved ones were safe, even when the cell phone towers were shut down. As the Boston Marathon is the largest sports event in New England, and one with participants from nearly 100 countries (BAA.org), this personal two-way horizontal communication quelled public fear and unified the global community.

This connectivity came at a cost, however, as bad information was disseminated just as quickly.

The biggest pitfall of social media is the inability of the platforms to limit the amount of information being disseminated, or to set credibility and validity standards or requirements.

This lack of control was responsible for significant misinformation, as well as the wrongful accusation of innocent citizens. Such bad information even threatened the success of the investigation into the bombers as well as the safety of BPD officers. It was not until Cheryl Fiandaca began addressing such concerns on the BPD’s Twitter handle was this situation remedied and the BPD put back in control of communication through this outlet.

2. Describe different social media outlets and their affect on the crisis. How were they used positively and negatively?

Twitter was the most dynamic of the digital media outlets used during this crisis. The Boston Police Department (BPD), headed by Cheryl Fiandaca, was able to disseminate real-time, personal, two-way, horizontal communication with the public using this outlet. The BDP’s use of Twitter has paved the way for police departments and other public safety organizations across the country, showing that by taking control of the conversation, speaking to effected people on a personal level and providing real-time, credible information can help alleviate public fear, confusion and distrust in times of crisis. Despite this positive impact, this outlet also allowed the dissemination of information that lacked credibility and validity, even jeopardizing the safety of law officials, or the success of the investigation.

Reddit also had a significant affect on the crisis. The powerful crowdsourcing community of Reddit makes this media outlet a perfect space to investigate public issues and uncover insights based off communal inquiry and analysis. Following this crises, Reddit users quickly began discussing the crisis, analyzing videos and images in an effort to identify the bombers. Despite this positive effort, user speculation attributed responsibility to many innocent individuals whose misappropriation had a negative impact on their personal lives. To make these credibility issues worse, major publications including the New York Post and CNN reported on these speculations, further disseminating and bringing false credibility to bad information.

Facebook also had a direct affect on this crisis. This media outlet was most impactful in its ability to allow friends and family to check in with loved ones at the Boston Marathon and make sure they were safe. A combination of the newsfeed and status capabilities of the platform, as well as event pages, and groups allowed the global community to connect and unify, communicate with loved ones and speak out to support the investigation and anti-terror cause.

With more recent additions to Facebook such as the “Safety Check� that allows users to report themselves safe during a disaster, we can see that this platform is continuing to provide the public with an effective way to connect and communicate with loved ones instantaneously in times of crisis.

Social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and Reddit were used both positively and negatively during the Boston Marathon crisis. These media outlets provided real-time, personally-tailored, two-way communications to the public in a way that traditional media could not. The ability to communicate and check in with loved ones created needed unity and connectivity during this crisis. These same media outlets were also used inappropriately by the public and some traditional media outlets due to: the dissemination of information lacking validity and credibility, misappropriation of facts, false accusations and reporting of information with a detrimental impact on the criminal investigation. While there is no way to limit or control the dissemination of bad information on digital media channels, it is evident that they offer too many benefits for crisis communication to go unutilized.

SOURCES CITED:

Statistics - Boston Athletic Association - BAA.org. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://raceday.baa.org/statistics.html