Codified Hashtags for Weather Warning on Twitter: an Italian Case Study

Conclusions This paper presents some findings about effective use of codified hashtags on Twitter during emergencies by analyzing a dataset of tweets based on three regional codified hashtags for weather warning in Italy. It is an exploratory work to assess if codified hashtags may contribute in aligning formal and informal sources of information during emergencies. In particular we wanted to investigate: the propagation of codified hashtags in the three different regions (Liguria, Tuscany and Piedmont); the responsive use of the hashtag by classes of users playing a role during emergencies; the hashtagging practices emerging; the categories of information exchanged on Twitter by mean of those hashtags. Due to modest Twitter diffusion in Italy the three datasets collected are quite small compared to similar datasets examined in previous works about social media use in natural disasters as in the United States or Australia (#hurricaneSandy, #qldfloods). Although small, the main citation patterns of this dataset, like retweeting behavior and number of tweets with URLs, are in line with those reported in the literature for crisis events 39 . The coding of users, hashtags and messages made it possible to make evaluations on the flow of information exchanged within the hashtag community and highlight the role of different users, particularly of institutional accounts which represent main trusted sources. Codified hashtag have proven to be an effective channel of communicat...
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: research