Local emergency management's use of social media during disasters: a case study of Hurricane Irma

Governments' use of social media during all phases of emergency management, especially during disasters, has increased dramatically in the past 20 years. Yet, implementation at the local government level in the United States remains haphazard. As technology and the role of social media evolve, there persists a need to understand the socio-technical aspects of social media's employment in times of disaster. This study contributes to the growing social media literature by asking the following questions: what challenges remain and what lessons learned are being institutionalised at the local level of government? A qualitative analysis of 26 after action reports on Hurricane Irma (September 2017) by county, state, and federal governments and a four-hour focus-group session revealed dominant and subdominant themes, including: push/pull information; capacity and technical issues; inconsistent messaging; one-way versus two-way communication; timing of messages; and data collection. The paper concludes by discussing lessons learned, remaining challenges, evidence of organisational learning, and recommendations for future research.