An Applied Study of Social media as an  Innovative Tool for Crisis Communication  in Urban India

Dr. Latika Sahni; Dr. Reema Chaudhury

Volume : II, Issue : III, March - 2013

An Applied Study of Social media as an Innovative Tool for Crisis Communication in Urban India

Dr. Latika Sahni, Dr. Reema Chaudhury

Abstract :

Social Media has evolved far from beyond an optimal form of communication at exponential state, strategically connecting the world. It is the microcosms of the electronic communication world and hence is an innovative tool for urban India. The fact of 2012 study states that Facebook reported to have 71 million users and Twitter 12 million registered users are testament enough for understanding the reach of this powerful medium The social media are the electronic tools that enable the user to move back and forth easily between the roles of audience and content producers. The explosions of social media and web networking have made it an imperative tool of crisis communication as it can even accelerate the emergency relief in the disaster situations. The study aims to understand the global perspective of social media during crisis. The orientation is to understand the modality of crisis communication, public sensitization, social responsibility and increasing accessibility. The study is a result of extensive literature review in the field of social media. Goldfine and Laad & Lewis researches on crisis communication had been the inspiration for this research. On personal front, being the part of the society which has faced and communicated crisis in the past decade and has observed transition from media to social media– �A Paradigm Shift of Professional Journalism during crisis to Citizen Journalism� in urban India. In the Indian scenario, it has shown an immense impact inspite of its refrains and challenges. The undisguised focus of this study is on the attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of urban and rural population of India through survey data. The Findings will deal with the ambiguity regarding the lack of confidentially of non verified information, poor crafting of messages, conflict with traditional media, impact on organizational transparency and threats to precision regarding social media.