Vernetzte Selbsthilfe in Sozialen Medien am Beispiel des Hochwassers 2013 / Linked Self-Help in Social Media using the example of the Floods 2013 in Germany

Abstract

This article examines the usage of Social Media during the Floods 2013 in Germany. Twitter, Facebook, Google Maps and other platforms were used by affected citizen and volunteers to coordinate help activities among themselves providing an additional and significant contribution to the official emergency management. Beside the qualitative analysis of selected emergent volunteer communities interviews were conducted with Facebook group founders. The objectives of this study are on the one hand to analyse the use behaviour of social media in disaster settings, on the other hand to identify capabilities of designing and extending social media for emergency management purposes.