Vol.53 – Role of Social Media Clarified from the Japan Disaster

As mentioned in the previous article Vol.52 – Limitations and Potentials of Social Media Revealed from the Japan Disaster many people including the author have been using social media in sharing information about the Japan disaster.




In this article, the author would like to clarify the role of social media which she concluded as “facilitate people helping one another” by introducing what kind of key messages are delivered to navigate people to take what kind of actions in the case of the ongoing Japan disaster, breaking down into 3 phases.



1. Phase 1 : Shock and sense of urgency



This phase is soon after the earthquake that triggered huge tsunami broke out, which was followed by ill-functioning of Fukushima nuclear plant.



1) Outbreak of the earthquake and tsunami



Media reported how the degree of tragedy is immense with much use of movies and photos, and people online including the author had been sharing such content. For the author it was to “broadcast” the natural tragedy and that this is extremely serious issue that would require help from countries and regions around the globe.



The information about help and support from countries and regions around the globe was also shared online by English and Japanese sources. For the author it was to persuade as many parties as possible to get in the mood of providing help.



What was unique about information shared in Japanese (especially in Twitter) is asking for information that helps safety confirmation and asking to spread information useful for victims to be rescued and evacuate.



2) Outbreak of Fukushima nuclear plant issue



Media, especially western, seemed to communicate in a way similarly to outbreak of the earthquake and tsunami but many seemed to be based on “assumptions” and not necessarily on “facts” which was proactively shared by many English speaking people online. One reason is slow announcement/disclosure about the status and countermeasures from the government and TEPCO.



But, the author did not mention about this issue until the first announcement about this issue was made in the press conference by the Prime Minister and the Chief Cabinet Mister and she has been selective and careful in posting information about this issue all because she wanted to minimize confusion.



2. Phase 2 : Condolence and confusion



This phase starts after a few days of the break out of the disaster and in this phase information about relief aids condolence went viral. Also, the focus of the disaster shifted from earthquake/tsunami to nuclear plant issue. And information on predictions and discussion by experts about effects on economy and business (and society including people’s lives etc. in Kanto as well as regions hardly hit by Japanese source) became a hot topic.



1) Aids, prayers and condolence



People shared information about praying and condolence, and about aids to promote relief aids and other supports, and the author was not an exception. This kind of information was promoted in a very similar way as in any marketing campaign. The key for success would be having successfully shared the seriousness of the disaster in phase 1.



What the author did additionally was sharing specific examples of aids by some major companies and individuals and also clearly said hat further aids from around the globe is inevitable to deny misinformation and false rumour of English source that circulated among English speaking people informed immediately by her kind English speaking online friend.



The author also highlighted on urgency of aid in healthcare to call for such aids, having heard from her Japanese friends in healthcare and science/technology field assisting such aids that shortage of healthcare and related aids (medicine and experts) is becoming a serious issue.



2) Fukushima nuclear plant issue



Radiation and recovery updates have been the critical issue almost replacing the seriousness of the natural disaster of earthquake and tsunami, and therefore this information immediately started to viral.



There have been sensational reports from western media and “fragmented” information from Japanese media that with no big picture of the issue and/or countermeasures and outlook.



The author wanted to deny misinformation and minimize confusion/panic and for this reason she shared information of facts and explanations/view of experts obtained from her online friends strong in science and technology.



3) Affect of the disaster on economy, business, society



This kind of information was in general neutral for worldwide media; the difference was the perspective of their analysis and discussion. This is quite natural because of the difference in writers and assumed target audience.



Perhaps the biggest difference was that unlike western media, Japanese media have been communicating much about “planned” blackout because the effect of this is more in Kanto (e.g. Tokyo), directly affecting people’s everyday lives as well as business and economy. Also this would determine the pace and dynamics of economic recovery.



One reason why the author decided to write her second English blog article about the reality of the Japan disaster was to include this information to help English people better understand the bigger picture of the disaster and its affects, which could lead to persuading more people worldwide to contribute to relief aids etc.



3. Phase 3 : Recovery/reconstruction for the future



This is from about 1 week from the outbreak of the natural disaster, of ongoing phase in which focus is mostly on recovery updates and radiation/ contamination from Fukushima nuclear plant.



Japanese media and its people also have been communicating about the reality of the victims and how experts in various settings are working hard in extremely harsh work environment. Moreover, they have been communicating about the future; i.e. recovery and reconstruction.



1) Radiation and contamination from Fukushima nuclear plant and its possible upcoming effects



This is what everyone around the globe is interested in but there is a great difference in the content and tone of the information shared between English and Japanese sources.



In general, English sources have been sensational causing a panic, as pointed out by quite a few recent Japanese sources.  However, there are some English contents that are of facts, which contribute to denying sensational articles and the author has been proactively sharing such information, such as chart that compares radiation level among major worldwide cities that shows that the level is lower in Tokyo and Fukushima than people think. 

Also there are contents from New York Times and Financial Times both by journalists with profound knowledge about Japan, based on the fact with constructive and convincing critism about the underestimated risk management, a good message to Japan. 




2) Harsh realities and work environment of people actually doing the work in various settings



Japanese media have been communication updates of the recovery process and how much efforts are being made by TEPCO engineers in a severe environment. Japanese media also have been communication similar topics in the case of healthcare experts who volunteered to go to the devastated area to help the people in need. The objective of such communication is to convey the message that not only the experts rescuing people and clearing wreckages but many other people are making upmost efforts to safe people and the country, and this kind of information has been proactively shared by individuals.



In addition, Japanese media have been explaining the unfavourable healthcare environment for people; corrupt facilities and shortage of medicines/experts, of evacuation centres and other places where victims are currently living. This is to give a warning that unless it improves, it is quite possible that, for example, once a flue should start to spread it would spread immediately and rapidly, and it is quite possible that many people die from diseases after they managed to survived from the natural disaster, citing what actually happened in the Kobe earthquake in 1995.



3) Future of the country



The disaster is ongoing and thus most media focus on updates, but journalists and experts have also been publishing articles on recovery and reconstruction; what needs to be done, what are necessary and so forth. Some of such articles are closely linked with leadership and (risk/crisis) management. This trend is strong in media that issue (bi)-weekly business magazines.



A few English articles written by Japanese journalists have a unique trend. They focus on reconstruction and its meaning to Japan, saying the calamity would be an opportunity for the country’s rebirth, expressing the commitment of reconstruction.



One of the author’s latest blog articles is about the future (reconstruction) based on the business articles mentioned above with this message/tone and that is what she wanted to say from series of her blog articles together with her thoughts that Japan cannot possibly remain to be a burden in the international community; the reason for all the communications of the topics mentioned above.



4. The author’s final thoughts



The additional information being communicated by Japanese sources and difference in perspective and tone between English and Japanese sources is quite natural because of the difference in available information the two sources have, their target audience and mission/objective of communication.



The interest of English sources is the affect on the economy and business of their country while for Japanese media and its people the disaster is about their country and its recovery is about their own future. This is why their ultimate message would be calling every individual to do what he/she can, saying the they believe in the strength in the country and its people that enable the recovery and rebirth of the country,



The message is also delivered by many famous people in TVCF created and sponsored by the government, generating synergy with message circulated online.



What the author would like to point out is that information shared by English sources helped in crafting the contents and amplifying the effectiveness of information sharing in every phase. This is one way of help from the international community.



After all, the role of social media is to make the information go “viral” by sharing the information with online people around the globe timely and appropriately, to facilitate countries/regions, organizations and people helping one another to overcome difficulties and solve problems, opening the door to the bright future, although the journey may be a long one.

Vol.52 – Limitations and Potentials of Social Media Revealed from the Japan Disaster

2011 is said as the first year of social media in Japan, with break out of Twitter in 2010 and of Facebook in January 2011. On March 11 of such a year there was the Japan earthquake and tsunami, followed by the Fukushima nuclear plant issue. Similarly to President Obama’s election campaign and the recent changes of power in North Africa countries, social media have been playing a major role among users including the in sharing timely information.



From actually leveraging social media to share the Japan disaster information the author acknowledged potentials of social media when she also acknowledged there are limitations as well. Such limitations and potentials are well analyzed and summarized with concrete examples by Motohiko Tokuriki, a leading Japanese Internet marketer, in his recent online article.



In this article the author would like to introduce the essence of the article, adding some comments to what she actually did. The article was posted on March 25 but Tokuriki had written the article one week after the earthquake and thus he says “the whole process is ongoing and might be too early to summarize but this is what he started to see as an expert”.



1. What are limitations of social media?






1) Social media are useless unless the lines are connected



It might be too obvious but what became clear is the fact that even if social media have become an important infrastructure to share information it is useless if the telecommunication network that operates under the media goes down.



At least just after the earthquake in many regions including Kanto area (e.g. Tokyo, Kanagawa/Yokohama, Chiba) mobile phone network did not operate properly and people were in extreme situation to use mobile phone and sending e-mails from their mobile phones.



The damage on telecommunication network in Kanto was comparatively small so many people managed to overcome by accessing the Internet using fixed line and mobile phone broad band connections. However, in regions where the communication network was severely damaged it was extremely difficult for people to access the Internet by mobile and smart phones.



This showed that compared to phones that were completely disconnected the Internet connection was more stable and better. However at the same time, people acknowledged anew that it is with stable telecommunication environment that social media can be leveraged.



2) Disinformation and false rumour can proliferate easily and quickly



This is also obvious as often been pointed out by mass media, but through use of social media in sharing information about the disaster people re-acknowledged that various disinformation and false rumour are easily proliferated. This is because social media such as Twitter and Facebook are of the world in which everyone can be a publisher at anytime, anywhere with ease. (This is mentioned in the author’s another article about the disaster Reality and Lessons from the Japan Earthquake / Tsunami Tragedy and this is why she included “Importance of integrity in accurate information sharing” as a lesson from the disaster.)



Of course, in reality, social media also is used to deny such disinformation and false rumour (and the author did, too) and it is true that disinformation and false rumour are also spread mouth-to-mouth by other forms of communications such as e-mails and face-to-face communication. But it is open media such as social media in which records clearly remain and thus people seem to have a strong impression that social media is weak against proliferation of disinformation and false rumour.



3) Social media is not suitable for one-way communication to the general public



This may contradict with what some social media experts in the west say whey they say why social media should be used in emergency; this statement is in comparison with traditional mass media such as TV and radio.



It is TV that is the most effective and the quickest in delivering the information immediately after the earthquake about the tsunami warning and earthquake intensity to the mass. Moreover it is traditional mass media that is more effective an quicker to deny disinformation and false rumour.



Of course, it is effective to provide people who could not watch TV a certain amount of information leveraging Twitter by including link(s) to TV company websites. But the number of followers of accounts of TV companies and/or of official government accounts is currently 200,000 at the most. The situation may change in the future when social media becomes much more popular in Japan, though.



2. What are the potentials of social media?






1) Strong “pull” media – ideal for safety confirmation



It was by no means social media were extremely effective in confirming safety immediately after the earthquake and tsunami. (Indeed the author leveraged Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to inform her worldwide online friends that her family and she are all safe).



With “push” media such as phones and e-mails, people would need to inform that they are safe by pushing the information to recipients of the information.



There are many people who could be worried about the safety of the person such as family, relatives, colleagues, boss and so forth and such list of people are limitless. It is impossible to know if the person is safe of not unless the person contact one by one of such people or unless the recipients contact the person.



With social media, posting/updating to say that the person is safe equals announcing that the person is safe, thus “pull” communication is possible. Therefore, as long as the recipients know the Twitter account etc. of the person, the person do not need to contact recipients one by one.



Many people actually said that in the disaster they could not contact by phone or e-mail but were able to know that the safety of their family and friends by social media.



2) Information sharing by the central player – timely and live



National and local government, companies and other organizations as well as individuals proactively leveraged Twitter to share information about the disaster, opening new Twitter accounts specifically for the disaster, when they already had opened official Twitter accounts as the “face” of the organization.



The fact that Fire and Disaster Management Agency is sharing information on Twitter account was informed by TV telop. Also Prime Minister’s Office opened a Twitter account, Japanese and English, specially to share information about the disaster, with which information including press conference information of the Prime Minister and the Chief Secretary Minister was shared. TEPCO also opened an official Twitter account to share information about “planned” blackout.



Recently experts in nuclear topics also started to leverage social media as well. They started to share their high level knowledge, information and insights on Twitter and/or to discuss on the topics on Facebook.



In addition, people affected by the disaster have been sharing first hand information from the devastated area to deliver what aids are necessary. This is something quite different from previous disasters.



(Indeed, the author has been sharing information with online friends around the global integrating information from Japanese and western media plus what her friends and she have been seeing and doing in Japan to deliver the information that are not reported by western media such as about the “planned” blackout and effects on Kanto area by blogging as well as Twitter, Facebook and LinedIn. It was because of such blogging that she was ready when a LinedIn friend in Europe with an enormous online network kindly offered her help; she asked him with a link to her blog article(s) to spread her message as much as possible leveraging his online and offline channel, including access to Japanese society/school in his country. She could also post her blog articles in the Facebook fan page designed to raise money to save Japan.)



3) Filter to screen and select useful and valuable information



As mentioned earlier, one of the social media limitations is the fact that disinformation and false rumour is easily spread, on the other hand, people acknowledge anew that social media function as filtering to screen and select useful and valuable information.



Vast amount of information is now flooded on the Internet because everyone can be a publisher, anytime, anywhere.



In such a situation, a certain level of IT literacy is required to screen and select useful and valuable information but this means that with a certain level of IT literacy people can efficiently screen and select such information.



For this reason, there has been many phenomenon in which useful and valuable　information that became hot in the social media world are valued in the traditional mass media world to be acknowledged by more people.



A well known case is of a web site in which inspiring comments of a Twitter account of an engineer living in Fukushima @paryforjapan.jp are introduced. The web site became hot and was introduced in a few TV programmes. It seems that the information/articles in the website is regarded as a source to understand with calmness the risks of Fukushima nuclear plant issue that are difficult to be communicated by traditional mass media.



4) Collaboration among social media users


What is impressive is the fact that collaborations are ongoing to help people in need among social media users.



Some examples include promotion of saving energy/electricity to minimize and avoid “planned” blackout. This is not only calling for saving energy/electricity. There are also web sites that share poster designs calling for saving energy/electricity and for voluntarily restraining speculative stocking attributing to panic.



There have even such things as starting of Wiki to update with collaboration about volunteer information and with collaboration creating movie based on a comic and a song by a famous comic artist.



This could be an evidence that online collaborative work is also feasible in Japan when traditionally it was believed that online collaborative work is difficult and not feasible in Japan compared to the U.S.



3. The author’s additional comments and final thoughts






1) What is importance is strategic integrated communication of online and offline synergy, leveraging the characteristics of the Internet



The above analysis and insights of Tokuriki are based on the characteristics that distinguish the Internet from other traditional media, which was mentioned in the previous article Vol.22 – What Distinguishes Internet/Web From Traditional Media?



The importance is the approach based on media mix concept; strategic integrated communication using both online and offline traditional mass media for synergy.



2) It is the individuals that are responsible to minimize limitations and maximize potential of social media



It cannot be denied that it will take time to overcome the historical disaster, but on the other hand being connected online and through information sharing and collaboration by social media people including the author acknowledged anew the potential of mankind and social media/Internet.



After all, it is every social media user that determines the limitations and potential of social media. It is the mindset (integrity, openness, responsibility, authenticity), skills/competencies (IT literacy) and actions (flexibility, agility, courage) of the individuals as well as the technical IT infrastructure and environment that minimize limitations and maximize potential of social media.





References:-

Tokuriki, Motohiko (March 25, 2011) 3 “limitations” and 4 “potentials” of social media clarified by the Japan disaster (in Japanese)

http://business.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/manage/20110323/219105/



Resources:-

Social media have been a major communication tool in sharing information regarding the Japan disaster by the government, companies, organizations and individuals, from which limitations and potentials of social media are revealed. What is importance is strategic integrated communication of online and offline synergy, leveraging the characteristics of the Internet. And it is the individuals that are responsible to minimize limitations and maximize potential of social media.