WKSU News: Kent State researchers get a grant to study social media and disasters

Thursday, December 11, 2014 Kent State researchers get a grant to study social media and disasters Professor says twitter may communicate alerts faster than traditional media by WKSU's LYNDSEY SCHLEY	Reporter Lyndsey Schley

Researchers will be taking and analyzing tweets on disasters.

Courtesy of Andrew Mager/Flickr

Kent State University researchers have received a grant to study how people react to disaster alerts over social media.

Geography professor Jay Lee and his team will use the $300,000 National Science Foundation grant to create programs to sort store and interpret tweets about disasters.

Lee says he hopes they can better understand how information is disseminated through social media so policy makers can use it more effectively.

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"A great number of us have smart phones and many of us are on one or more social media, so this is turning out to be more possibly effective than the traditional broadcasting media such as radio or television," Lee says.

Lee says researchers will also look at how discussion of political issues spreads.

The study is expected to run for four years. Kent State will collaborate with San Diego State University and the University of Arkansas on the project.