Open AccessSocial media for emergency messaging with youth and families during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: Getting it right
Author(s) -
Heather Hilliard,
Frcpc Martha J. Ignaszewski,
Kunmi Sobowale,
Faap Linda Chokroverty
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of emergency management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.345
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 2374-8702
pISSN - 1543-5865
DOI - 10.5055/jem.0597
Subject(s) - pandemic , social media , covid-19 , action (physics) , population , public relations , action plan , crisis communication , text messaging , internet privacy , medical emergency , call to action , psychology , business , medicine , political science , advertising , computer science , environmental health , virology , law , ecology , pathology , outbreak , biology , quantum mechanics , physics , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Disaster communications are frequently included as an area of improvement in the majority of incident after action reports. One segment of the population that is overlooked or intentionally excluded from messaging constructs is adolescents and transitional aged youth. Social media, the preferred mechanism of this population, has the capacity to both educate as well as misinform. Thoughtful and intentional utilization of social media channels for adolescent audiences can convey facts and motivation for appropriate community action when mindfully incorporated into a crisis communication plan by emergency managers. Increasing methods of accurately conveying life-safety issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and its increasing variants must be done correctly and timely.