HEROIC Online Research Highlight

1 min read research

In recent work, the HEROIC team performed an exploratory analysis of online conversation surrounding the Waldo Canyon fire which started on June 23, 2012, three miles west of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team looked at Twitter posts by the general public as well as official government emergency management organizations.

A few of the lessons learned from this research include:

  • When an event occurs local organization gain large numbers of followers.
  • Establishing a social media strategy pre-event is important. Organizations should not judge attention demand for social media during non-event periods.
  • Original content tends to be produced by local organizations, while retweeted content tends to come from non-locals

See the online research highlight for more information:

Spiro, E., Sutton, J., Johnson, B., Fitzhugh, S., and Butts, C. (2012). “HEROIC Team Explores Waldo Canyon Wildfire in Colorado.” Online Research Highlight. http://heroicproject.org

social media social networks heroic crisis informatics

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