* Every week, Red Cross Tech Talk looks at different technology or social media tools that pertain to the work we do at the Red Cross. Have an idea? Please let us know!
*Guest entry by Gina Holmes, Public Affairs team, Ottawa
As most of us know, social media is a great way to get timely delivery of information, but it can also be a great tool to track trends around the world, and we’re not talking about the latest celebrity gossip in this case! Here at the Canadian Red Cross, we’ve seen that people want information fast, especially in times of disaster.
A recent article in the Scientific American used the cholera outbreak in Haiti following the earthquake to explain how social media and online activity can enable researchers to track a disease outbreak faster than conventional medical notifications.
Researchers wanted to compare how fast they could have tracked the evolution of the outbreak online rather than relying on the traditional disease surveillance methods. By searching through news articles, blogs and tweets posted during the first hundred days after the earthquake, they were able to discover the progress of the outbreak. The progress that was determined via social media matched the official data issued after the epidemic.
This newly collected information would have been available two weeks earlier than the official information was available, allowing for more immediate action to have taken place.
Social media has the ability to serve as a key communicator in times of crises. That’s why it’s so important for organizations like the Red Cross to monitor and use this information to respond quickly and effectively to emergencies.