ABSTRACT
This chapter draws attention to the networked aspect of information by exploring the use of social media during the 2011 attacks in Norway. During that crisis, the use of social media for resilience emerged spontaneously from the population, or the digital crowd. The concept of resilience in general and the use of technology to engender self-governance specifically have been subject to further criticism. The chapter explores how the multiple and diverse processes following emergencies are to an increasing extent incorporating social networking sites. The way in which social media have been utilized during and after these attacks, the chapter argues, is a specific expression of mediated and self-initiated governance of emergencies that resonates with resilience thinking, because it reflects and reinforces the principles and rationalities of self-organization, distribution and adaptation. The roles that social media fulfilled during the Norway attacks can be divided into two kinds – first-response and emotional functions.
