Flooded Country, Flooded InternetAnalysis of Facebook Use in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Times of Emergency

CeDEM-Asia-2014 December 4 - 6, 2014

Dragana LazicUniversity of Tsukuba,

Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Introduction

Source: AFP/http://www.sott.net/article/279401-Balkans-floods-trigger-Bosnias-worst-exodus-since-war-deathtoll-rises-to-at-least-47

Population: 3.8 million

Mid-May 2014: low-pressure system “Tamara” caused unprecedented floods and landslides

1.5 million people were directly or indirectly affected

60 directly affected municipalities (of 142)

Estimated damage: 1.3 billion Euro

Infrastructure: housing, local services, energy, transportation, water and sanitation and agriculture

Substantial media attention

Increase in the use of social network sites: Facebook and Twitter

Traditional media and the state were criticized for their poor performances:

the three biggest PBS TV stations missed the opportunity to warn citizens or to offer up-to-date information

Research Questions:

How did Internet users in Bosnia and Herzegovina use Facebook for emergency response during the floods in May 2014?

What were the main differences between pages/groups created during this event?

Literature Review

SNS and Disaster/Crisis/Emergencies: Serve as a backchannel communication tools and “virtual destinations”

(Palen and Vieweg, 2008) Enable a wide scale interaction among members of public, as well as a

primary emergency communication tool (Palen et al., 2009; Palen and Vieweg, 2008)

A grassroots source of rescue and response information A tool that enables local groups to improvise informal relief efforts, and a

tool for expressing emotions and evaluation (Palen et al., 2009; Huges and Palen 2009; Palen and Liu, 2007; Sutton et al. 2008).

In Japan: Twitter, Facebook, and Mixi were the most effective channels for information distribution:serving as “peoplefinders,” tools to match needs and supplies, and sources of first reports on radiation (Slater et al., 2012) Twitter played a prosocial role and became a basis for building social capital during the disaster (Kaigo, 2012)

Methodology

Content analysis

First 7 days into the crisis: May 14 - 20, 2014

Search: a combination of words “poplave”, “Bosna i Hercegovina”, and/or names of the most affected communities, e.g. “Doboj,” “Banja Luka”

The initial search: 67 pages/groups 5 Ванредно стање ДОБОЈ (State of Emergency Doboj):

created to cater to the needs of the population in an urban area that was completely cut off by the floods;

appointed temporary military governance during this period.

In total: 628 posts

Results

Facebook Page/Group No. of posts

Poplave opcina Odzak i okolina. / Floods Municipality of Odzak and Surrounding

Areas.(G)

290

Ванредно стање ДОБОЈ / State of Emergency Doboj (P) 114

Poplave u BiH /Floods in BiH (P) 75

Poplave Republika Srpska/ Floods Republika Srpska (P) 62

Mapa poplava BiH /Floods Map BiH (P) 59

Poplave Banja Luka- Nudim-trazim pomoc u namjestaju i tehnici / Floods Banja

Luka I Offer - I Seek Help in the Form of Furniture and Appliances (G)

28

Total 628

Table 1: Number of posts per page/group

Table 2. Frequency of different themes related to the floods

Posts - Themes 1* 2 3 4 5 6 Total

Emergency and information on current situation and damage

(transportation; water and energy supply; information from state

agencies dealing with emergencies; emergency numbers, car

insurance related info, house sanitization, etc.)

52 20 0 17 15 0 104

Posts asking for help (for oneself and/or others) 7 22 0 2 9 3 43

Posts asking for information on people’s whereabouts (asking

information about people or their whereabouts; lists of missing

people, etc.)

39 14 0 0 2 0 55

Posts addressing false information and rumors 4 6 0 2 2 1 15

Donation, volunteering, humanitarian aid from abroad 29 22 8 10 25 8 102

Posts related to a politician, political party, or government 0 0 0 23 0 0 23

News (shared from other mainstream or online news outlets) 20 5 2 1 0 0 28

Photos/videos of affected areas 101 16 64 6 5 0 192

Other 38 9 1 1 1 16 66

Total 628

Floods Municipality of Odzak and Surrounding Emergency information on (52); posts asking for information on people’s

whereabouts (39); photos/videos of affected areas (101); news shared from other mainstream or online news outlets (20)

May 19: a user appealed to other group members to send their photos to a public broadcast TV station in order to raise awareness on their problems

Almost equal frequency of posts during a- three-day-period: May 17- 19.

State of Emergency Doboj Donation, volunteering, humanitarian aid from abroad (22); posts asking

for help (for oneself and/or others) (22); emergency and information on current situation and damage (20)

Posts about irregularities with aid distribution, e.g. post on page State of Emergency Doboj “aid not to be given to the authorities!”

In Lieu of Discussion and Conclusion

Flooded Country, Flooded Internet?

(1) Three types of posts were dominant: Photos about floods and damages in their vicinity (very few photos

represented individuals in distress) Information about disrupted transportation, and other emergency information

and practical advice Humanitarian aid and volunteering

(2) Facebook was used as a “backchannel” of communication, which in turn enabled extensive interactions :

Interactions were translated into a formation of online communities which provided social support via self-help and self-reliance with a potential spillover effect to other communities

Collective action was facilitated among people who previously did not know each other

(3) Members did not only share information, and organize relief assistance, but expressed a sense of solidarity, a feature rarely seen on this scale in the country

Motive for Facebook use: shared perception among members that they were abandoned by the (failed) state and its authorities, as well as forgotten by some of the more traditional media which they usually rely on when seeking information

Did social media incited panic during the May Floods?Facebook users did not use this social network for the mass spread of false information. In some instances Facebook was used to address irregularities with aid distribution, and mistrust in local government(s).