Social Media in Emergency Management

In recent years, social media has empowered emergency and disaster managers, communities, and organizations to improve their ability to build disaster-resilient communities, protecting them from the harm caused by all forms of hazards—natural, technological, and human-caused. By building upon these toolsets, officials and community leaders (formal and informal) are sharing and better utilizing critical information from partners and the community to perform more effectively to meet the disaster mission. The use of social media in emergency management is forcing a fundamental paradigm shift in government, building linkages, creating relationships, and moving data in real time, facilitating greater effectiveness and efficiency.