ABSTRACT
Since 2007, social media platforms have become an important channel for information exchange among survivors, volunteer organizations, and nongovernmental organizations during (and after) emergencies and disasters (Fraustino, Liu, and Yan, 2012). Over the last six years, emergency-related government agencies, at the state and local level, have begun to adopt strategies for social media use. At the federal level, the government has begun to standardize social media use specifically for emergencies (Bennett, 2014). In July 2014, the House of Representatives passed the Social Media Emergency Response bill [H.R.4263] to establish standards for social media use (U.S. Congress, 2014). The bill also encourages the federal government to communicate with citizens using emergency support technologies, engage in social media response activity, and apply social media use recommendations (Marcos, 2014).
