Coping with unexpected and potentially stressful social events, in the Age of Social Media: From psychosocial media analysis to crisis communication

More and more people produce and exchange information over the internet and use it as an important information source, especially in times of crises and social emergency. Particularly, the new social media – e.g. Twitter,... [ view full abstract ]

More and more people produce and exchange information over the internet and use it as an important information source, especially in times of crises and social emergency. Particularly, the new social media – e.g. Twitter, facebook - has sparked researcher’s interest in recent years. This is because it allows access to messages produced by different people and groups, in the form of natural and spontaneous reactions (in cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions) to unexpected and potentially stressful social event(s) such as e.g. food crisis, epidemics, natural catastrophes, terrorist attacks, … These natural and spontaneous reactions may be more difficult to capture through traditional data collection methodologies, thus making social media a rich data source that may provide relevant evidence-based insights for risk communication and crisis communication. To demonstrate this, we will present two examples of psychosocial media analysis applied to a food crisis – 2011 EHEC outbreak in Europe – and an epidemic – 2014 Ebola outbreak. Results from these show how psychosocial media analysis allowed a better understanding of the way the overall situation was perceived - threat or challenge - and the resources that individuals experienced having to cope with the emerging demands. Lastly, we will discuss the potential this may have in guiding communication efforts aimed at providing the means and resources to support the public in reinterpreting an unexpected and stressful event(s) as a challenge to cope with, rather than a threat.