Abstract
During a disaster it is vital for government agencies to provide timely and accurate information to the public. Lately social media such as Facebook have become important channels for crisis communication. The purpose of this study is to identify what type of usage and topics that the users of a local governments’ Facebook page engage in during a flood. A content analysis was carried out on two local governments’, The Bundaberg Regional Council’s (BRC) and the City of Calgary’s (CC), Facebook pages during two floods in 2013. The results show that Facebook was an important channel for spreading information. Users’ engagement was especially high in real-time operational information concerning road or school closures and drinking water. Also coordination of relief efforts such as volunteering raised a lot of interest. Important usage types and topics to communicate through a local government’s Facebook page are proposed at the end of the paper.
Recommended Citation
Magnusson, Monika, "Facebook Usage During a Flood – a Content Analysis of Two Local Governments’ Facebook Pages" (2016). ACIS 2016 Proceedings. 20.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2016/20