As Superstorm Sandy raised ocean levels along the Eastern seaboard, so too did it raise the level of social media usage in the United States.

William Ward, a social media professor, said using social media during natural disasters has become very common.

“When you lose the power, your Internet may be down at home and your electricity may be down, but if you have a cellphone and there are any towers up, you can message over social media,” he said. “Even if the Internet is down, you can also text to publish to Twitter.” 

One of the most valuable parts of being able to use social media without power is the ability to let family members know that you are OK, Ward said. He added that since it is nearly impossible to call every family member and friend, social media platforms provide a better option.

Calling several people also makes emergency communications much more difficult, Ward said.

“Before, everybody was trying to make a phone call and check on their relatives and vice versa, and really tie up the lines for other needed emergency services,” he said.

Many Syracuse University students used social media to get updates from family.

But others, like Timothy Law, a freshman undeclared major in the College of Arts and Sciences, felt texting was still the best mode of communication.

Sneha Phadke, a second-year graduate student in the School of Information Studies, texted and called family in India during the superstorm, but also used Facebook to check in on her friends in New York City and New Jersey.

One of her friends from New York City lost power last Monday, but was able to communicate with Phadke and others through Facebook groups.

“She posted on Facebook when she was safe,” Phadke said.

Ward said posting variations of “I’m OK” or “We’re OK” was one of the more popular Facebook posts.

Helping people share information about the emergency, where relief services were needed and comforting family members were all huge benefits of social media, Ward said.

Ward also acknowledged the potential to misuse social media. Some people shared false information on social media, he said. But this was only a very small percent of people.

Though Ward hasn’t run the analytics for Superstorm Sandy, in past tests, 99 percent of people used social media properly and only 1 percent shared false information.

In the past, when misinformation was spread, it could take up to 24 hours to get the correct information out to the public, but on Twitter, false information is usually corrected more quickly, he said.

Overall, Ward said he thinks social media platforms are useful tools in communicating during a disaster, and the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

Said Ward: “Even though that’s a negative when people are sharing misinformation, the truth is coming out much quicker than if we were using traditional news cycles.”

Published on November 6, 2012 at 12:12 am

Contact Andrew: amfeld01@syr.edu