Factors Related to Social Media Adoption and Use for Emergency Services Operations: The Case of the NSW SES

This paper aims to provide some insights of a longitudinal case study of the adoption and use of social media technologies by the New South Wales (NSW) state emergency service (SES), with a focus on social media adoption factors. The study identifies a set of internal and external factors explaining the adoption and use of social media by the NSW SES including: the social media bandwagon effect, the effectiveness of social media use during the January 2011 Queensland floods, the NSW state strategic planning on emergency services, the opportunity offered by the upgrade of the NSW SES web site, and a strong internal management leadership toward the use of social media to support emergency operations. Finally, implications for research and practice are discussed.