In 2011 Queensland experienced a summer of disasters; Cyclone Yasi, widespread flooding in Central Queensland, flash flooding in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, and extensive flooding in many Brisbane suburbs. This period also witnessed a massive rise in the public’s use of social media in disasters, as people turned to their ‘smart phones’ to search for information and to make contact with family and friends. Many official organisations, e.g. emergency services, councils, and government agencies, scrambled to meet the public’s demand for near-immediate information and two-way engagement. During this time one organisation, Queensland Police Service (QPS), demonstrated highly effective and well-supported social media engagement, for which it was recognised internationally, but at this time it was an exception.

In May 2011 we undertook a survey to examine the use of social media in these recent disasters; where people went for information, what they were doing on social media, and how they integrated official and community-generated social media information. In addition, we investigated and reported on the role of social media as a form of psychological first aid and as a tool in resilience building (Taylor et al, 2012), noting how people were able to gain relevant information, feel safer and more connected, help others, and build local networks.

Two years after the first study, and following storms and further flooding in the Bundaberg/Burnett area, and across South East Queensland, we repeated and extended the earlier survey to investigate differences in how social media was being used and whether people felt official agencies’ use of social media had improved. Had reliance on official sources of social media shifted in favour of community-generated sources, and were the positive, resilience-enhancing aspects still evident?

This poster will address these questions.