Unpacking the impacts of social media upon crisis communication and city evacuation

In the UK National Security Strategy it was argued that networks, including those facilitated by social networking technologies, could impact upon security as a wide range of ideas could easily proliferate (2010, p. 16). As indicated in Chap.“City Evacuations: their pedagogy and the need for an inter-disciplinary approach”, crisis communication is a vital aspect of effectively managing large-scale evacuations. This chapter therefore examines the implications of this new ‘mass of connections’ in the context of evacuation. It draws upon data from three highly varied UK city locations in order to examine the impact of social networking technologies upon official (i.e. first responder, local authority or national government led) emergency communication strategies. The chapter specifically addresses two interrelated findings: the opportunities for and threats to official crisis communication that emerge from the introduction and uptake of social networking technologies and the re-configuration of crisis information exchange between government, traditional media and citizens. The chapter concludes by offering a range of policy and practice recommendations focused upon improving communication strategies in the context of evacuation.