The review

On 7th September, in Dortmund (Germany), the EmerGent project (www.fp7-emergent.eu/) will have its Final Review. The project, of which IES is part of the consortium, studied the use of social media during emergencies, and the identification and integration of valuable information from social media. Moreover, it developed a smartphone app that allows citizens to share information about emergencies.

During the review the project members will demonstrate the findings and the results of EmerGent, so to allow the representatives of the European Commission to evaluate the project.

The survey on the use of social media

EmerGent has performed a survey on UK citizens regarding the use of smartphone and social media during emergencies.

The main findings regarding the use of smartphone are:

  • Around one in five citizens currently do not use a smartphone – almost half of those aged 75 or older do not use a smartphone
  • The majority of UK citizens (85%) use some form of social media at least occasionally – 79% use Facebook and 38% use Twitter
  • Even though the use of Facebook is greatest among young people , still 39% of those aged 75 or older use it on a daily basis while 55% use it occasionally
  • Women are more likely to use Facebook than men – 65% of women use it on a daily basis compared with 52% of men
  • A higher proportion of men use Twitter on a daily basis than women – regular Twitter users are also significantly more likely to come from social grades ABC1

The following are the main findings regarding the use of social media during emergencies:

  • Around a third of adult citizens have used social media during an emergency to look for or share information
  • Use of social media during emergencies is significantly lower among those aged 45 or older
  • The proportion of those aged 18-24 who have used social media in an emergency (56%) is very similar to the proportion of those aged 25-34 (54%)
  • Younger people (aged 18-24) are more likely to use social media to look for information during an emergency, while those aged 25-34 are the age group most likely to share information on social media
  • Women are significantly more likely to use social media in an emergency than men – particularly to share information with others
  • The main reasons for not using social media in an emergency include technological concerns – for example that mobile phones would not work properly in an emergency – and reliability issues (that information on social media is not reliable)
  • Less than half of citizens state that data privacy issues are a reason for not using social media in an emergency
  • People are most likely to use social media to share weather conditions or warnings road or traffic conditions and their own feelings or emotions about the emergency
  • The majority of UK citizens currently do not expect emergency services to respond to messages posted by them on social media – however, the expectation is much greater among younger citizens.

The project has also produced a video on the impact of social media in emergencies:

All the findings are available at this page: www.fp7-emergent.eu/surveys

The guidelines

The EmerGent project summarised its findings and conclusions in the form of guidelines and provides a list of recommendations for emergency services and citizens on how to make the most of social media.

The following image sums the guidelines addressed to the citizens:

The guidelines are available here:  www.fp7-emergent.eu/guidelines

Recap

What: Final Review of the EmerGent project

When: 7/09/2017

Where: Dortumund, Germany

More info: www.fp7-emergent.eu/(EmerGent website), www.fp7-emergent.eu/surveys (survey), www.fp7-emergent.eu/guidelines (guidelines)

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