Twitter sentiments related to natural calamities. Analysing tweets related to the Jammu and Kashmir floods of 2014
| Published date | 05 February 2018 |
| Date | 05 February 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-12-2015-0244 |
| Pages | 38-54 |
| Author | Sumeer Gul,Tariq Ahmad Shah,Muzaffer Ahad,Mir Mubashir,Suhail Ahmad,Muntaha Gul,Shueb Sheikh |
Twitter sentiments related
to natural calamities
Analysing tweets related to the Jammu
and Kashmir floods of 2014
Sumeer Gul
Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
Tariq Ahmad Shah
Central Library, Central University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
Muzaffer Ahad and Mir Mubashir
Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
Suhail Ahmad
Department of Political Science, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India, and
Muntaha Gul and Shueb Sheikh
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
Abstract
Purpose –The study aims to showcasepublic sentiments via social media, Twitter, during 2014floods of
Jammu and Kashmir,India.
Design/methodology/approach –The study is basedon content analysis of tweets relatedto Kashmir
floods. Search was performed with “#kashmirfloods”and was confined to tweets postedfrom 4 September
2014 through 3 November 2014. A naturalistic approach was applied to examine the content and classify
tweetsinto 5 major and 25 sub categories. Dataas such collected were tabulatedin SPSS 21 for analysis.
Findings –During the study period, individuals, news channels, and organisations posted a total of 36,697
tweets related to Kashmir floods. It all started with an outburst of tweets which goes on declining (exponentially)
with every passing day. People express themselves in a number of ways with informational tweets used more
during the time of disaster. Individuals expressing their sentiments outscore other types of sentiments with text-
based tweets ranking high. About 44 per cent of tweets were retweeted, and nearly 31 per cent tweets were
marked favourite. Comparatively, more number of informational and help tweets were retweeted or marked
favourite. Contextual richness of tweet (i.e. number of embedded expressions) enhances its visibility by means of
getting liked and/or retweeted. A statistically significant positive association is observed between the number of
expressions in a tweet and the number of times it is liked (favourite) or retweeted.
Research limitations/implications –Twitter plays a pivotal role during natural calamities like
Kashmir floods to connect people in the hour of need and help. It provides a platform where the plight of
people is heardacross the globe and which encourages people to unite and overcome hurdlestogether.
Originality/value –This study examines the sentimentsof people expressed during Jammu and Kashmir
(India)Floods 2014 on social media –Twitter.
Keywords Natural disasters, Social media, Floods, Sentiment analysis,
Jammu and Kashmir Floods, 2014, Twitter analysis
Paper type Research paper
EL
36,1
38
Received10 December 2015
Revised14 February 2017
Accepted2 May 2017
TheElectronic Library
Vol.36 No. 1, 2018
pp. 38-54
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-12-2015-0244
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Introduction
A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the earth,
such as floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other geologic processes
(Wikipedia, 2015a). It has been looked upon as a major event that hits an unprepared
population. Disaster is usually juxtaposed with resilience: “it is a convulsion in the social
system but not necessarily (indeed not usually), a decisive one”(Bakkour et al., 2015).
Spiegel (2005) describes a natural disaster as an event that can create significant
ecological disruption between humans and their environments, which requires extensive
efforts to overcome. These hazards often result in serious disasters leading to loss of
lives, property and livelihoods. In an era of global climate change, natural disasters
linked to extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent and intense,
affecting millions of people around the world (de’Donato and Michelozzi, 2014;Meehl et
al., 2000;Mirza, 2003;Sena et al., 2014). Illustrative examples include the massive tsunami
that killed more than 200,000 people in South East Asia in 2004; the Kashmir earthquake
in 2005 resulting in 86,000-87,351 deaths, 69,000-75,266 injured people with 2.8 million
people displaced; Hurricane Katrina that wreaked havoc in New Orleans; the destructive
2010 earthquake in Haiti; the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011, also called the
Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tohoku Earthquake, which was a severe natural
disaster that occurred in northeastern Japanon11Marchresultinginalmost20,000
deaths; Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippines in 2013; and the April 2015
Nepal earthquake, also known as the Gorkha Earthquake, that killed more than 9,000
people and injured more than 23,000.
Communication channels during times of crises and natural disasters play a vital role
before, during and after these events. Social media, in particular, has become an
important channel for communication, playing complementary roles to the traditional
media. Keeping this in mind, in 2013, the social media service, Twitter, unveiled a new
service called Twitter Alerts, designed to prioritize information from credible
organisations during crises when other communications channels are not accessible
(Twitter, 2013). The US National Weather Service also announced that it would rely on
Twitter as an environmental information service for weather alerts (Holthaus, 2014).
Twitter lends itself well to these tasks, due to its flat and flexible communication
structures. Users interested in specific topics can easily find one another through the
rapid and ad hoc establishment of shared hashtags related to the disaster. Hashtags
provide a mechanism for conversation and update threads between users even if these
users are not already following one another in the social network.
Twitter is increasingly gaining momentum as a trusted source for news and
information. A significant body of research suggests that during crises and emergencies,
people rely on the communication medium for timely updates and real-time information.
Twitter demonstrated its value as a viable substitute to traditional communication
channels during recent disasters and has evolved as a comprehensive disaster
information management system for governments, by informing the public and creating
public value through its communication speed, reach and information quality (Chatfield
and Brajawidagda, 2013). The information broadcast on Twitter may help to provide a
sense of the needs and responses of those affected by large scale events as they are taking
place. Thus, the possibility that crisis managers and emergency responders may be able
to use Twitter as a bellwether for the specific needs and concerns aired by varying
publics during crises and disasters is a reality (Lachlan et al., 2014). The prominence of
social media has contributed to open information access for the researchers. With the
voluntary information sharing structure of Twitter, user disposition and sentiment
Jammu and
Kashmir
floods of 2014
39
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