INFORMATION EXCHANGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA EVANGELISTS DURING FLOOD: A SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS

Information dissemination during disaster is very crucial, but inherits several complexities associated with the dynamic characteristics of the disaster. Social media evangelists (activists) play an important role in disseminating critical updates at on-site locations. However, there is limited understanding on the network structure formed and its evolution and the types of information shared. To address these questions, this study employs Social Network Analysis technique on a dataset containing 157 social media posts from an influential civilian fan page during Malaysia's flood. The finding demonstrates three different network structures emerged during the flood period. The network structure evolves depending on the current state of the flood, the amount of information available and the need of information. Through content analysis, there were seven types of information exchanges discovered. These information exchanges evolved as the scale and magnitude of flood changes. In conclusion, this study shows the emergence of different network structures, density and identification of influential information brokers among civilians that use social media during disaster. Despite the low number of influential information brokers, they successfully manage their specific cluster in conveying information about the disaster and most importantly coordinating the rescue mission.