Health, Floods, and Social Media

Hello! My name is Macy Shepard. I’m a recent graduate from The Moody College of Communications at UT Austin. Today, I want to share some very interesting research with you!

Did you know that during a disaster many people don’t know how to handle the health concerns that arise? With hurricane season upon us in the U.S., it is important for people to be informed on hurricane-related health issues before a disaster hits. During a study conducted at UT Austin, they found that information from official sources of health information were not being used very much.  Instead, people who were struggling with specific health concerns were leaning on other average people, often friends on social media, who were simply posting on their social media pages. Many individuals stated that they wouldn’t have known half of what they did if it were not for people being bold enough to post their insight on the situation and by giving helpful advice.

New Health Concerns During Floods

The main weather concern the research team studied was the wide-scale flooding that occurred in Houston starting in mid August until the beginning of September of 2107, known as Hurricane Harvey. When this wide-scale flooding occurred in a community not accustomed to floods, health concerns emerged. Many individuals were lost in regards to how to prevent a specific health crisis because of all the new sicknesses that were emerging. For example, when sewers overflow, the water turns brown, and most people do not know how to keep themselves safe. Social media made it much more possible for average citizens to help each other, especially when they couldn’t easily find information from official health organizations. Using social media is simply a lot quicker than waiting for information from a health organization, and the updates come more quickly as well.

Study Findings

This study used a combination of semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation techniques to explore how citizens used private social media sites to share health information with the community.  Meaning, the team got permission from individuals who experienced the flooding to look at the pictures they posted on their social media to get the word out. The openness that people were willing to have with their photographs and stories is what really helped the team comprehend how social media was utilized throughout the disaster.  The research team found two main categories of health concerns: existing medical conditions and water-created. They further identified six themes that describe the common approaches average citizens used to share health information: Narrating a personal experience, presenting it as a Public Service Announcement, downplaying the contribution, bringing a credible source into the conversation, including external links and sources, and using humor. Together, these findings suggest that citizens need health information during a flood disaster, and when they do not have it available from official sources, they use their private social media to tap into a shared community identity and carefully help one another.