Connectivity and the Role of New Social Media in Crisis Communication

Abstract

Rapid development of social media offers opportunity as well as challenges. Crisis communication is one of the areas strongly influenced by the development of Social Media. So it has drawn growing attention from Crisis Communication researchers. The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of Connectivity and the role of new Social Media in Crisis Communication, to help others understand future research directions in this area. The current study examined the trends and patterns of Social Media in Crisis Communication research published on various websites. More specifically it focused on the trends and characteristics of Crisis types, Social media platform and the role of Social Media. The various public oriented features of Social Media offer a more complex perspective on Crisis Communication. The result indicate an increasing trends of Social Media related Crisis Communication Studies. This study found that the social media can emerge in or amplify the Crisis. This study also found that the researcher in this area mainly examined the effect of Social Media use on Crisis Communication. This study discussed the connection between Social Media and Crisis Communication and also importance of connectivity.