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Disaster Warnings in Your Pocket: How Audiences Interpret Mobile Alerts for an Unfamiliar Hazard
Author(s) -
Bean Hamilton,
Liu Brooke F.,
Madden Stephanie,
Sutton Jeannette,
Wood Michele M.,
Mileti Dennis S.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of contingencies and crisis management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.007
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5973
pISSN - 0966-0879
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5973.12108
Subject(s) - personalization , hazard , variety (cybernetics) , internet privacy , computer security , metropolitan area , computer science , psychology , world wide web , medicine , artificial intelligence , chemistry , organic chemistry , pathology
This study investigates how people interpret Wireless Emergency Alerts ( WEA s) and Twitter‐length messages (‘tweets’) delivered over mobile devices for an unfamiliar hazard. Specifically, through four ( N = 31) focus groups and 31 think‐out‐loud interviews, participants’ understanding of, belief in and personalisation of WEA s and tweets were assessed for a mock improvised nuclear device detonation in a major U.S. metropolitan area. While participants offered a wide variety of interpretations, WEA s and tweets were often deemed confusing, difficult to believe and impersonal. Participants also consistently found WEA s and tweets to be fear inducing and uninformative. The findings compel improvements in the way that WEA s and tweets are currently written, as well as indicate future directions for applied risk and crisis communication theory development.