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Multi-level functionality of social media in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Joo-Young Jung Associate Professor, Department of Media, Communication and Culture, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan, and Munehito Moro Student of Media Studies, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan

This study examines the multi-level functionalities of social media in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011. Based on a conceptual model of multi-level story flows of social media ( Jung and Moro, 2012), the study analyses the multiple function- alities that were ascribed to social media by individuals, organisations, and macro-level social systems (government and the mass media) after the earthquake. Based on survey data, a review of Twitter timelines and secondary sources, the authors derive five functionalities of social media: interpersonal communications with others (micro level); channels for local governments; organisa- tions and local media (meso level); channels for mass media (macro level); information sharing and gathering (cross level); and direct channels between micro-/meso- and macro-level agents. The study sheds light on the future potential of social media in disaster situations and suggests how to design an effective communication network to prepare for emergency situations.

Keywords: disaster, earthquake, Japan, multi-level,social media, social networking site, tsunami, Twitter

Introduction This study examines the multi-level functionalities of social media in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011. Based on a conceptual model of multi-level story flows of social media ( Jung and Moro, 2012), the study analyses the multiple functionalities that were ascribed to social media by individuals, organisa- tions, and macro-level social systems (government and the mass media) in the aftermath of the earthquake and the resultant tsunami. Based on survey data, a review of Twitter timelines, and secondary sources, the authors derive five functionalities of social media to illustrate the different ways communications at individual, group, and mass media levels travelled within the social media network and across different media after the disaster.

The disaster At 14:46 on 11 March 2011 Japan was thrown into chaos when a magnitude 9.0 earth- quake hit the north-eastern region of the main island. A massive tsunami followed immediately and inundated the northern part of the country, spanning Miyagi, Iwate,

doi:10.1111/disa.12071

Disasters, 2014, 38(S2): S123−S143. © 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA

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Fukushima, and other coastal prefectures. Thousands of lives were instantly lost. Houses and infrastructure were destroyed and, consequently, coastal maps had to be redrawn (NPA, 2013). Further tragic effects of the earthquake contributed to the crisis the country was facing after the tsunami impacted a nuclear power plant in Fukushima operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). At 15:32 on the day of the earthquake the emergency cooling system in Reactor No. 1 at the power plant failed, ushering in Japan’s worst nuclear accident to date. In the evening of 11 March then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared a nuclear emergency. A few hours later the Japanese government issued evacuation instructions to residents living within 3 km of the plant. On 12 March a hydrogen explosion caused by the failure of the cooling system occurred. Another explosion followed two days later (14 March) at the plant’s third reactor. Subsequently, the evacuation area was expanded to a radius of 20 km from the plant. Radioactive contamination, combined with intense seismic activities, gen- erated much concern across the entire country. Most of the physical damage caused by the earthquake and the resultant tsunami occurred in the country’s north-eastern areas, while for the rest of Japan not affected by the massive tsunami, the levels of damage were significantly lower. The earthquake and its physical threat were perceived differently in terms of severity. Compared to the north-eastern areas, the damage to Tokyo was negligible. Nonetheless, relatively minor inconveniences in Tokyo turned into fully fledged confusion when the media began reporting that explosions had occurred at the Fukushima plant, located about 250 km north of the capital (Yomiuri Shimbun, 2011a). Technical units for measuring radioactivity such as ‘sieverts’ or ‘becquerels’ repeatedly appeared in news reports and everyday conversations, even though their meanings were not fully understood. Since recurring aftershocks were unpredictable and radioactivity levels were unmeas- urable, considerable uncertainty soon permeated Tokyo. Government officials failed to provide sufficient or reliable information, which contributed to the public’s confusion. For example, officials initially announced that the severity of the Fukushima accident was level 5 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, but later raised it to the maximum level of 7. Information from the mass media was also vague and often contradictory; some reports stated that the situation at Fukushima was almost contained, whereas others claimed that radioactive con- tamination would create a dangerous global threat lasting for decades. For example, when the blast at the third reactor occurred on the morning of 14 March an extra edition of Yomiuri Shimbun ran the headline (in very large print) ‘Explosion at the Third Reactor: Flame and Great Amounts of Smoke’. On the same page, however, the paper also published the following statement: ‘TEPCO claims the containment building [of the reactor] is sound’. TEPCO’s press release was followed by then- Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano’s statement (also on the same page), ‘The pressure inside the building is decreasing to some extent, but it remains within a predictable range’. The combination of the devastating information regarding the explosion with reassuring yet often confusing comments from authorities raised the

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level of ambiguity for the public. Since the country had not previously experienced a similar crisis, high uncertainty existed regarding the severity of the situation, even for government officials and TEPCO employees. As they issued vague comments and conservative estimates, confusion among the populace increased about the actual severity of the crisis and its potential effects on everyday life. Furthermore, there were instances when information from the foreign media con- tradicted news from the domestic media, specifically about the extent of the harmful effects of radiation (Sankei Biz, 2011). Although the mass media, particularly tele- vision, were the main sources that people relied on for information, social networking sites (SNSs), such as Twitter and Facebook, were drawing considerable attention. In fact, they were praised as alternative information sources for those who had become dissatisfied with the mainstream media (Ogawa, 2011). Video-streaming sites became important information sources for those who did not or could not view images on television. For example, Ustream and other related sites were allowed to broadcast news from Japan’s NHK and several other television channels (Miyamoto, 2011). The number of Twitter users in Japan increased by about 30 per cent in the first week after the earthquake and the number of messages uploaded on Twitter nearly doubled immediately after the earthquake (Livedoor News, 2011). About 60 per cent of Twitter users in Japan indicated that the site had been useful for gathering information (Mobile Marketing Data Labo, 2011).

Disasters and the media In the event of a disaster, the mass media often become central sources of information for people. During major disasters the media discontinue regular programming to devote their airtime and print space to the crisis. Liebes (1998) calls this a ‘disaster marathon’, while Katz and Liebes (2007) maintain that the broadcasting of reports of terrorist attacks, wars, and natural disasters (mostly unplanned broadcasting) is a newly emerging media genre. Ball-Rokeach (1973) explains that the centrality of the media tends to increase when people experience high levels of ambiguity in their social environment. She proposes the concept of ‘pervasive ambiguity’, which she defines as ‘the inability to establish meaningful relational links and a unit-forming factor between events in a total social situation’ (Ball-Rokeach, 1973, p. 379). She explains that pervasive ambi- guity involves people’s relationships with other social actors and institutions, as well as other elements in the social environment. She conceptualises pervasive ambiguity as an information problem that arises when ‘there is insufficient information to con- struct a definition of a situation or to select the most appropriate definition from two or more alternatives’ (Ball-Rokeach, 1973, p. 379). The Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and nuclear accident heightened people’s pervasive ambi- guity and they sought out all available resources to establish a meaningful framework for the events and ensuing circumstances.

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The mass media have become increasingly central information resources during a disaster. Ledingham and Maseh-Walters (1985) examined people’s reliance on the mass media and identified high levels of credibility regarding media messages before and after Hurricane Alicia in 1983. They found that television, newspapers, and radio were the main sources of information that people depended on, and the credibility of these media remained high. Hirschburg, Dillman, and Ball-Rokeach (1986) studied people’s media dependency after the eruption of the Mount St. Helens vol- cano in 1980. They found that people relied heavily on broadcast media because inter- personal networks lacked the information and expertise needed to resolve ambiguity. Kim et al. (2004) and Lowrey (2004) found that the importance of the mass media also increased after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC. Although the mass media have traditionally been the main sources of informa- tion, recent studies have found that the Internet and mobile phones have become increasingly important in disaster situations. In addition to numerous journalistic accounts of their value in locating people and providing information after a disaster, several empirical research studies regarding their emerging roles during or after dis- aster or emergency events have been conducted. Kodrich and Laituri (2005) examined the role of online news media in the aftermath of an earthquake in the Gujarat region of India that killed approximately 20,000 people. They found that online news media helped form disaster-response communities based on common interests and geo- graphical locations. After the earthquake and tsunami disasters that occurred in the Bay of Bengal in 2004, Kivikuru (2006) noted that mobile phones and amateur-run discussion groups on the Internet were the primary media used to obtain newsworthy information about Finnish people who were on vacation in the area. Shklovski et al. (2010) conducted a longitudinal study of various communication technologies used by musicians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They found that the Internet and mobile phones were used most frequently to help people stay connected with each other and obtain information about the disaster. Tai and Sun (2007) also found that the Internet was actively used as an alternative information source to reduce ambiguity during Hong Kong’s SARS epidemic when the public perceived that the mainstream media were not providing sufficient information. In the last few years the social media network has emerged as an important plat- form for various types of social interactions and communications in our everyday lives, as well as during unusual situations. Social media enabled people to gather information and connect with others during such events as the Barack Obama presi- dential campaign (Arceneaux and Weiss, 2010), protests against the import of US beef into Korea (Park et al., 2010; Shirky, 2010), massive uprisings in the Middle East (Cottle, 2011; Zhuo, Wellman, and Yu, 2011), and national disasters (e.g. earthquakes in Haiti and Japan). Hughes and Palen (2009) examined Twitter use in a 26-day period that included two political conventions and two hurricanes and found that in emergency situations people are more likely to use Twitter for broadcasting and shar- ing information rather than for interpersonal interactions. Starbird et al. (2010) analysed

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public Twitter data during and after the Red River flooding in Minnesota and North Dakota. They categorised three types of tweets: generative information produc- tion tweets that are more or less original messages; synthetic information produc- tion tweets that are original tweets synthesising outside knowledge; and derivative information production tweets that include retweets, follows, resourcing, and URLs (Starbird et al., 2010). Most studies on the media and disasters focus on the use of one medium (e.g. television or the Internet). Several media studies tend to treat different media tech- nologies as competitive rather than connected. For example, there is perceived competition between interpersonal and mass media, and also between the mass media and newer communication technologies. When people are faced with high ambigu- ity, however, they are likely to use all available resources and try to connect the information they have gathered (Ball-Rokeach, 1985). For example, an inquiry about something seen on television news can be followed up with an online search to obtain more information. Further, an individual can talk with family members to exchange knowledge and opinions about a particular situation. In other words, people utilise different media in conjunction with others to gain clarity and reduce ambiguity. Recent studies and reports on social media contain limitations. Although various media and blog sites praise the role of the social media network in disaster situa- tions, most articles provide only anecdotal accounts to support the role of this new platform in emergency situations. Few discuss the truly important roles played by social media in the aftermath of the earthquake. Secondly, the concept and scope of ‘social media’ have not been concretely defined. Thirdly, many studies have focused exclusively on social media without contextualising in terms of other types of media available to people on a daily basis. In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earth- quake, stories from the mass media flowed into SNSs while individual users were simultaneously serving as information sources for the mass media. Such connections between individuals (interpersonal communications), the mass media, and social media have not been comprehensively explored in past studies.

Social media framework Despite the popularity of the term ‘social media’, its definition has remained unclear on many occasions. Among several definitions suggested in past studies (Abe, 2010; Hogan, 2010; Kietzmann et al., 2011; Krishnamurthy, 2009), we believe that Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) provide the one that is the most concrete. Their definition is offered in tandem with other related concepts, e.g. Web 2.0 and user-generated content. According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p. 61), the term ‘social media’ refers to ‘a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and techno- logical foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content’. They go on to enumerate six functions and services provided by social media: collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia), blogs (e.g. blog sites), content communities (e.g. Flickr, YouTube), virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft),

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virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life), and social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Mixi) (some examples were added by the present authors). The six catego- ries provide useful boundaries in terms of what can be categorised as social media and what cannot. In the present analysis, Twitter (a micro-blogging site) is given the greatest fo- cus, although sites for sharing content such as YouTube and Ustream are discussed as well. As of January 2012 Japan had the largest Twitter user population in Asia, while it is the third most represented nation in the world on Twitter after the USA and Brazil (Semiocast, 2012). The mobile-phone-centred Internet culture in Japan facili- tated the growth of the convenient and accessible ‘140 characters’ micro-blogging site. The popularity of Twitter increased dramatically after the earthquake, specifi- cally among urban populations (JCAST News, 2011). In addition to the mobile-phone- friendly interface, two other functions made Twitter useful after the earthquake. The ‘retweet’ (RT) command reposts another user’s message to one’s timeline and is helpful for spreading messages quickly. The ‘hashtag’ (#) allows users to mark key- words in their tweets (e.g. #earthquake, #oscar), which makes it possible to search and organise multiple tweets under the same theme. Marwick and boyd (2010, p. 9) coined the term ‘context collapse’ to explain a phenomenon on Twitter that facilitates the intermingling of diverse contexts and audiences, arguing that ‘Twitter flattens multiple audiences into one’. We agree with this notion and suggest that stories (tweets) uploaded on Twitter are not limited to the micro, meso, and macro levels; rather, they spontaneously flow across individual, organisational, and mass audience levels, as explained in the next section.

Conceptual model: Multi-level story flows on social media

In addition to the interactivity and user-generated content that characterises social media (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010), their flexible functionality is proposed in this study as a reason for the popularity of social sites, which transcend other levels of communication. The study examines multiple functionalities of social media based on a conceptual model of multi-level story flows of social media proposed in the authors’ previous work (Figure 1). The multi-level relationships of individuals, media, and social system conceptualised in the media system dependency theory (Ball-Rokeach, 1985; 1998) and the multi- level analysis model of mass communications proposed by Pan and McLeod (1991) provide theoretical frameworks for the conceptual model of multi-level social media ( Jung and Moro, 2012). The three circles in Figure 1 represent levels of communica- tion that are epistemologically different (Pan and McLeod, 1991): the micro, meso, and macro levels. Micro-level communication takes place mainly in interpersonal contexts in the form of symmetrical conversation, such as talking with friends or family members. The meso-level field of communication is sustained by the activities of relatively small-sized media, such as local newspapers, groups, or organisations. Macro-level communication includes mass media such as television, major news- papers, and radio.

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The model also situates social media contextually with other types of media. Rather than focusing exclusively on social media, the model considers how social technolo- gies are related to others in the overall media system (Hanna, Rohm, and Crittenden, 2011). Although communications may stay within the social media network, they often flow across different media. The cylinder encompassing the three circles rep- resents the conditions required for communication to take place (e.g. government policies, ethnic or cultural diversities, and other social environments). Inevitably, context influences patterns of communication at each of the three levels (Kim and Ball-Rokeach, 2006). For example, when the content of television programmes is strictly regulated by government policy, the kinds of stories that can circulate in the macro-level field of communication are restricted. Social media penetrate the three communication levels and the levels converge within this network. Social media provide one-on-one and one-to-many commu- nications, enabling micro-level users (individuals), meso-level organisations (com- panies, schools, local communities), and macro-level agents (countries, mass media organisations) to share the informational arena where stories circulate within and across all levels. Micro-level production and consumption. Stories produced and consumed on the micro level are characterised by interpersonal content of interest to friends, family, and other non-public acquaintances. When a story circulates on this level, it usu- ally involves two-way symmetrical communication (Waters and Williams, 2011). Social media encourage individuals to produce and consume large numbers of stories without relying on powerful media agencies at the macro level. When someone

Figure 1. Conceptual model of multi-level social media

Source: Jung and Moro (2012).

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writes on a friend’s wall on Facebook or sends a private message via Twitter, a story is produced and consumed on the micro level that may generate a high level of interactivity and feedback. Producers at this level tend to be the least anonymous, because stories are mainly distributed for interpersonal consumption among people who know each other. Meso-level production and consumption. Stories circulate on the meso level in a larger context than the micro level. Producers include local governments, schools, companies, institutions, and communities. Relationships that define the meso level include a shared interest, a geographical place, or an organisation (Ball-Rokeach, Kim, and Matei, 2001). A fan page on Facebook, for example, connects producers and consumers based on their common interest. Another example is a local commu- nity website created and sustained by residents who are connected geographically, culturally, or ethnically (Ball-Rokeach, Kim, and Matei, 2001). Stories produced for the meso-level context are consumed with greater anonymity than those at the micro level. Macro-level production and consumption. Macro-level stories are produced largely by professional gatekeepers from mass media agencies, such as major newspapers, mainstream radio, and television companies. Audiences are mostly anonymous and not related to one another. Hence, macro-level communication demonstrates the one-to-many pattern. The majority of mass media agencies view social media as important channels for disseminating their stories and reaching their target audi- ences. They set up accounts on social networking sites and feed news stories several times daily. Several television channels, including CBS in the USA, actively use YouTube to disseminate their news reports and attached advertisements. There are feedback loops in the social media system, but the majority of macro-level stories flow from one source to many. High-level celebrities who have millions of followers on Twitter (e.g. @masason, @ladygaga, @BillGates, etc.) may also be regarded as macro-level storytellers. When a well-known company or celebrity uploads mes- sages or videos, millions of users may be attracted to the site because of the producer’s visible social presence. Jung and Moro’s (2012) model conceptualised multi-level production and con- sumption of story flows within social media and across different media. However, the model stayed at a conceptual level and was not fully developed into an analytical tool to examine the particular functionalities ascribed to social media in a specific social context. The current study develops the existing model to derive multiple functionalities of social media in a disaster situation. Media system dependency theory, which provides a theoretical framework for the conceptual model of social media, notes that people’s dependency on the media increases in a disaster situation due to the increased ambiguity in the prevailing social context (Ball-Rokeach, 1985; Hirschburg, Dillman, and Ball-Rokeach, 1986). The present study examines the ways in which social media were activated and utilised in a highly ambiguous social context after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

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Functions of social media in the aftermath of the 11 March earthquake Based on the multi-level model of social media ( Jung and Moro, 2012), this study explores multiple functionalities of social media that were actively utilised in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The study derives the functionalities of social media by observing and analysing their use in society rather than by focus- ing on their technical affordability. The question the study attempts to answer is: What were the functionalities of social media that were actively utilised after the Great East Japan Earthquake?

Research methods

Survey A paper-based, in-class survey was conducted at a private university in Tokyo, Japan between 25 and 29 April 2011. The survey was conducted in Japanese. A total of 225 responses were collected. Seventy-two per cent of respondents were females (slightly higher than the 62.6 per cent female representation within the university’s overall student body), and the average age was 19. Ninety-two per cent of respondents were Japanese nationals, 4.5 per cent had dual citizenship with Japan and another nation, and 2 per cent were non-Japanese nationals.

Secondary data To understand different uses of social media at the micro, meso, and macro levels in society, reports, newspaper articles, and other sources were collected and analysed for the two-month period following the earthquake. Both Japanese and English sources were reviewed.

Review of select Twitter timelines A review of five Twitter-users’ timelines from the time the earthquake occurred on 11 March to 14 March was conducted in order to obtain first-hand data on the use of the microblogging social media immediately following the earthquake. Tracking one user’s timeline retrospectively was a challenge because Twitter-tracking software does not provide Twitter archives that are older than a month and does not allow the viewing of a timeline in a specified time slot (e.g. 11–14 March). Therefore, five users’ timelines were manually retrieved by reverse tracking from their current timelines. All five users were Tokyo residents and were in the city when the earthquake took place. The Twitter timeline of those who were in the Tohoku region, which was the region most directly affected by the earthquake, was not investigated because power was shut down in many parts of the region. Tokyo was significantly affected by the earthquake, but data transfer on the Internet via mobile phones was mostly function- ing. The users were intentionally chosen among those who have a moderate number of followers (ranging from 50 to 500) in order to examine the Twitter timeline of

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everyday people rather than celebrities. Most tweets were in Japanese and were translated into English when quoted in this study. Due to the translation, several Twitter messages may exceed 140 letters in English. Individuals’ Twitter account names were omitted for privacy reasons.

Five functionalities of social media

Based on the survey, secondary sources, and review of Twitter timelines, we pro- pose five different functions served by social media, as illustrated in Figure 2. In each case, stories flow across levels or across the media via social media. These primary functions are:

1. interpersonal communications with others (micro level); 2. channels for group communications (organisations, local governments, and local

media) (meso level); 3. channels for the mass media (macro level); 4. information sharing and gathering (cross level); and 5. direct channels between individuals and the mass media, government, and the public

(cross level).

The above functions illustrate the media system’s dynamic nature as exhibited by social media. In the first three functions (1, 2, 3), information tends to flow on the same level. In functions 4 and 5 cross-level flows of information bridge all three levels.

Figure 2. The five primary functions of social media

Source: authors.

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1. Interpersonal communications with others (micro level) In the survey, secondary sources, and review of Twitter timelines, interpersonal com- munications with others were found to be widely utilised on social media after the earthquake. Our survey results revealed that 80.8 per cent of respondents used social media on the day of the earthquake: 70.1 per cent of this group were checking on the safety of friends and family, and 47.3 per cent were communicating to let others know of their own safety (Figure 3). Both landline and mobile lines were clogged, and many people could not reach their loved ones on the day of the earthquake. Although phone lines and 3G texting networks were congested, data services via the Internet were operating on mobile phones in Tokyo (Shigyou, 2012). When the Internet was the only available means of interpersonal communications, social networking sites were utilised by many people in Japan and also by those outside Japan who had friends and family in the country. Twitter timelines on the day of the earthquake were filled with interpersonal com- munications with others to check one another’s safety. For example, one user tweeted that ‘I am doing fine in my office. Please come to my office if you are around the neighbourhood’. Another user responded to a friend’s message from abroad: ‘It was a big shake, but I am doing fine. Thank you for your concern’. According to the review of Twitter timelines, interpersonal communication tweets were more highly activated on the day of the earthquake than the following three days. A questionnaire administered by IMJ Mobile (2011) queried 932 users of Twitter or Facebook about their reasons for using these sites after the disaster. Of these users, 724 had been using one of the sites prior to the earthquake, whereas 208 began using these services after the disaster. Almost half (49.3 per cent) of those who joined

Source: authors.

Figure 3. Social media activities on the day of the earthquake (%)

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Facebook after the earthquake responded that they did so to keep in touch with friends, acquaintances, or family members (Zaikei Shinbun, 201

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