Tweeting Tsunami: Influence and Early Warning in British Columbia

Canadian Journal of Communication. 2020. Vol. 45. No. 3. P. 387–409.

Oldring A., Milekhina A., Brand A.

Background Although early warning has been studied on Twitter, research focused on Canada is rare. British Columbia, Canada, is vulnerable to tsunamis, and warning systems are not ubiquitous. Establishing pre-event networks can contribute to understanding early warning dissemination potential in the province.

Analysis This study locates a 1,932 follower network for @NWS_NTWC, a Twitter handle for the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center, and the province’s primary tsunami warning notification account. A profile content analysis identifies stakeholders and maps locations, and a network analysis describes interconnections by role, country, and community type (rural or urban).

Conclusion and implications The results describe how networks can optimize warnings via Twitter. Key outcomes include a longitudinal baseline, network-driven decision-making techniques, strategies for alerting at-risk areas, and a method for detecting influential users.

Keywords: twitter, social network analysis, risk communication, Content analysis, Tsunami early warning

Publication based on the results of: Network Sciences: fundamental network research and analytical decision support for government and business (2020)