ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explore how Twitter works before, during and immediately after a disaster in Italy. It focuses on actors, networks and narratives in order to analyse how microblogging can impact upon disaster governance and risk communication at multiple levels. The chapter uses the concept of disaster governance mainly referring to risk and emergency communication management within a governance approach. The analysis of the use of social media during a crisis is relevant (and useful) in order to assess risk communication policies within a disaster governance approach. Communication is a core issue in disaster and risk governance. The role of communication in risk governance and emergency response is complex: in facing conventional, systemic or emerging risks, different levels of complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty have to be handled. As David Alexander argued, there is a growing interest in disaster research literature about these topics, at least since the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
