Social media have become increasingly useful in identifying conversations during a
crisis, particularly on Twitter where discussion tends to be public, accessible, and extensive.
Through social media, individuals engage in social interaction and dialogue, making social
media platforms a place where crisis coping activities may be identified, tracked and evaluated.
This study examines crisis response of two separate crisis events, the terror attacks in Paris
(2015) and in Barcelona (2017). Using semantic network analysis, this study examined dialogue
surrounding each crisis over three days following the original crisis events, marked by the
hashtags #Paris (24,728 tweets) and #Barcelona (27,338 tweets). Results show that the most
dominant dialogue in the Paris and Barcelona terror attacks demonstrated central themes of
information distribution, emotional expression, sense of community, and calls to action. More
specifically, results show that the emotional connections trend positive in expressing community
and unity. While most of the literature on crisis emphasizes negative response, this study shows
that positivity during a crisis is a significant theme of discussions. Furthermore, this study
showed resilience in efforts to seek positivity, build community, and create new normals,
suggesting that social media engagement might help facilitate resilience.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12172323 |
| Date | 24 April 2020 |
| Creators | Staci B Smith (8744787) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/BEND_DON_T_BREAK_ANALYZING_RESILIENCE_AND_COPING_DIALOGUES_ON_SOCIAL_MEDIA_IN_THE_AFTERMATH_OF_TWO_TERROR_ATTACKS/12172323 |
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