A recent UBC study shows that the more traditional, top-down approaches to both political and humanitarian organizing are being pushed aside as more people turn to social media in times of distress.
Ning Nan, an assistant professor at Sauder, looked at the use of social media, particularly in online university forums, as an effective planning and organizing tool after the disastrous 8.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Sichuan, China in 2008.
In the study, Nan found that when the Sichuan province of China was in utter chaos after over 4.8 million were rendered homeless, the students of the University of Chengdu were surprisingly resolved as they sought comfort and safety through online student forums.
“I’m very interested in the power of self-organization," said Nan. "The theory I investigated has always been about how the ordinary person could use today’s internet technology to self-organize.”
Nan and her co-author Yong Lu analyzed and categorized 27,271 online posts made by the students of the University of Chengdu during and shortly after the earthquake. Expecting to find a figurehead who students would turn to for direction, Nan was surprised when results showed quite the opposite with no one set leader or organizer.
“If you look at the comments made by the students, none of them tried to give instructions or commands to other students that would usually follow the traditional crisis management steps,” said Nan.
The posts that came after the earthquake were sorted into several categories, with some focused on receiving emotional support and others related to reflection on the role of the students at the university. Students soon started to exchange ideas on how to provide aid and support for those who have been most affected by the earthquake.
According to Nan, many of the responses could be seen as “sense-making” or a “trial-and-error process” during a difficult time.
“When we deal with unfamiliar situations, such as the aftermath of a natural disaster, we don’t really have existing schemes in our heads about how to react," said Nan. "Sense-making is trying to decipher what the proper course of action is in an unfamiliar situation."
Nan also said that the collective responses and organizing efforts that stemmed shortly after the initial display of shock show the changing role that social media will continue to play during emergency situations.