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= **Disaster in Japan:** = *The role of social media in news dispersion and recovery efforts



Background/Overview
On March 11, 2011, The Great East Japan Earthquake shook the lives of thousands of people in Japan. It was the most powerful earthquake in history to shake the nation. The quake triggered massive tsunami waves that traveled ten kilometers inland. Not only was there infrastructure damage to many buildings, but there was also concerns about radiation damage from the nuclear power plants. The estimated cost to repair the damages Japan exceed $300 billion dollars. The monetary cost is nothing compared to the approximately 20,000 people that are either dead or injured, not to mention the 10,000 people who are still missing. Information about the quake spread like wildfire throughout the world via social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Citizens captured videos of the earthquake and shared with the world on streaming sites like CitizenTube. Global publicity of the devastation and tragedy in Japan triggered sympathetic responses from many corporations and people who helped secure funds for rescue and recovery efforts. The overall response to the disaster in Japan was very different in comparision to that of Hurricane Katrina.

Twitter & Facebook
 (Credit: lavrusik.com) (Credit: thenextweb.com) **By: Paige Nelson**

 The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that rocked Japan in March was the most powerful on record to ever strike the country. Triggered by the massive quake, the tsunami that hit afterward was even more devastating. Worried family members and friends everywhere were desperate for news of their loved ones’ safety and welfare. Phone service providers were swamped with calls from all around the world, not to mention the fact that the enormous wave swept away many power lines in its wake. It only made sense that many would turn to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to break the news.

 Because of the 140-character limit, Twitter became more of a “breaking news” outlet for users. News circulated quickly as more and more began to re-tweet important updates about the disaster. A study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) found that twitter traffic increases dramatically after disaster strikes within seconds, compared to the 20 or so minutes it would take for scientific alerts to be issued (Lobb, 2011). Japan became one of the top trending topics on the social networking site for the entire week. [|ABC news reports], “hash tags such as #prayforjapan, #Fukushima, and #Sundai were among the most popular as people uploaded news and photos.” According to another article from the [|PEJ New Media Index], 32% of news links were about the disaster the week of March 14th.

 Many in Japan also updated their Facebook statuses to alleviate concern from family members about their well-being and safety. According to the [|Facebook Data Team], there were 4.5 million status updates from 3.8 million users relating to the tsunami and quake in Japan. Many online news sources have added social media “buttons” to their pages that link directly to the networks for quick sharing. Status updates are a convenient way to reach out to loved ones all at once when disaster strikes and phone lines are clogged.

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 The social media sites also became centers of support for the victims of the quake and tsunami. Aid organizations such as Red Cross used the sites as a platform to raise donations. According to [|ABC news reports] “Text Red Cross” became one of the most popular trending topics on Twitter, collecting $10 donations to assist the victims. Celebrities with mass Twitter followings tweeted their support for the victims and encouraged many to donate to aid organizations. Users also created support groups on Facebook using the “Causes” application as a way to rake in donations. Many popular gaming applications on the site formed partnerships with aid organizations to raise funds for victims.

 It’s not too surprising that social media sites were able to garner so much attention from the disaster. When the earthquake hit Haiti last year, social media also became a major source of news and support. These social media sites are revolutionary in the news world and will continue to be major players in the way news is transmitted.

CitizenTube
 (Credit: watblog.com) **By: Emmalie Kipp**

 User generated content in media has become a phenomenon that is shaking the way that we get information. Through the use of user generated content, we are able to see the real eye-witness accounts of events around the globe.

 YouTube has been in the forefront of the user generated movement since it started its website in February 2005 (Hopkins). This website allows any person to obtain a free account and upload their own personal videos for the world to see. In 2008 YouTube started a blog called [|CitizenTube] where people can “…find important breaking news videos from citizens; developing trends in the use of YouTube by news organizations, activists, politicians, and governments; and lots of other YouTube goodness” (CitizenTube Blog). The CitizenTube channel has 121,630 subscribers, over 19 million channel views and over 6.5 million uploads ([|CitizenTube Channel]).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Moments after the massive earthquake in northeast Japan, YouTube began a [|CitizenTube playlist] for [|eye-witness video] reports from people who had experienced the horrific quake. People were encouraged to upload videos that of the quake as well as the aftermath of the tsunami (CitizenTube Playlist).



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> YouTube has over 134,000 video results for searching “Japan tsunami,” most of which provide first hand experiences of the earthquake. Searching for “[|Japan Earthquake]” results provide over 138,000 results (YouTube Search).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> These videos were then used to push information out to the world about the reality of the effects of the disaster. Not only can anyone search for these videos, they were used in various news media ways including online news and television news shows.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> How can this help? In the past, natural disasters have taken lives and left damage all over the world; but because of lack of communication technologies, no one around the world would really understand the hardships that people went through. Now, with the ability to capture a disaster in action with a cell phone or camera and upload it to the web, the world must take notice. Seeing the disaster encourages people to get involved and send support not only on the government level but on a personal level as well.

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;">Companies & Fundraising
<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">(Credit: demi-daily.org) **By: Alexis Chisholm**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> In the wake of the tragic earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, many companies around the world wanted to help raise funds to send to Japan in hopes of bringing some relief. The world hurt for Japan and everyone wanted to help, especially large companies who have the power to spread the word and help raise money in a big way. One way many companies raised the most money was by advertising. Different companies did things such as give percentages of sales to relief funds, or had donation stations within the stores.[| Japanese restaurants and sushi places throughout San Francisco] have decided that anywhere from 10-20% of sales from orders of sake bottles or Japanese whiskey will go directly to Japan indefinitely. The GAP made a $200,000 donation which will support the work of International Medical Corps and Save the Children, while also giving $1.1 million in clothing to Japan.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Another way for companies to advertise was the internet. Sites like [|LonelyPlanet.com] set up a page specifically for raising funds to go to Japan. They gave an extensive list of different companies and organizations that were collecting donations. [|Mauinow.com] dedicated an entire section of their website that listed every single fundraising event held by local companies and organizations on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It was even mentioned if there would be anything to purchase and how much of the proceeds went to Japan. Not only are companies advertising online, but most websites have the option of donating through their company online with things like “Donate to the Red Cross here” buttons.



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Even [|celebrities] are selling items with proceeds going to Japan. Lady Gaga is selling bracelets for $5 with “We Pray for Japan” written on them in English and Japanese with 100% of proceeds going to Japan. She was able to raise a quarter of a million dollars in 48 hours. Bands like Blink 182 and Linkin Park designed and sold t-shirts with all proceeds benefiting Japan, while Katy Perry put all of the money she made from glow sticks at her concerts to go to Japan. Even Charlie Sheen was donating $1 from every ticket for his tour that was sold. Different famous jewelry designers, fragrance creators and clothing designers are setting up dates where all the money they make from selling their items on that day will go to Japan. Celebrities are one of the best forms of advertising and were able to help significantly.



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> However, there were many people who, with the help of companies, began their own advertising in order to help. For example, a man in New Hampshire who owns three franchised Sears appliance stores heard an elderly man tell a CNN correspondent how he had lost his entire family in the tragedy. He knew immediately he wanted to help. His wife is a distributor for NuSkin, a personal care product company which has already helped create and send a product called [|VitaMeal] which feeds people in third world countries one nutritious meal every day for a month. Teaming up, this husband and wife are selling the $22 bags in [|Sears stores around New Hampshire]. The bag will be shipped to Japan in order to feed its citizens. Because of the advertising of this product, every day citizens are able to contribute to the relief effort.



<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;">Compared to Katrina
<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;"> (Credit: web.mit.edu) **By: Nicole Alexandria Hunter**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Social media played a larger role in the disaster(s) in Japan than it did during [|Hurricane Katrina]. In the nearly six years since Hurricane Katrina, social media has greatly increased in popularity. Social media is not only a means of communicating with those that are not near you, but it is now heavily used as a news source. With the growth of social media and social networking sites, news is at our fingertips in a matter of minutes after something has taken place.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Back in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit, many Americans heard about the Hurricane by watching the news or possibly by phone. [|MySpace] was the major social network site back then, so some may have learned about the hurricane there. In any case, many of us looked to our local news for updates, but not too many looked to Facebook or other similar sites for updates regarding Hurricane Katrina.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">In contrast, social media played a major role with spreading the news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, [|Mixi] and [|Person Finder] played a vital role in keeping people around the world informed about what was happening in Japan. Twitter has been used to update people about the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Twitter has also made a guide of hashtags, such as #PrayforJapan and #JapanQuake, which can be used to group similar messages together. Facebook has been used not only to spread the news of the earthquake and tsunami, but it also plotted the amount of statuses related to Japan as the news spread around the world. According to the [|BBC website], there were 4.5 million status updates from 3.8 million users. Sites like Facebook have been used to raise money for relief and aid for Japan. There is over 90,000 responses if you search for “Japan earthquake” on YouTube. Sites like Mixi (Japan’s biggest social network) and Person Finder have been crucial aids for those searching for missing loved ones.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Social media has redefined the way and time in which we receive news no matter where we are or where the event (or news) is coming from. Just five years ago, the TV and phone were two of the major sources of news. Now, sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have transformed communication as well as the gathering and sharing of news.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 190%;">Conclusion
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">In the end, this disaster affected the lives of many, not only in Asia but around the world. As we continue to help clean up Japan, we can look back and see the differences between this natural disaster and Hurricane Katrina, as well as the funds raised to help this country. As technology continues to become a more important part of our everyday lives, sites like Twitter, Facebook, and CitizenTube will play a major role in spreading the news. Although we are working to rebuild the country after this tragedy, it will forever remain documented online.

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">References:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. Guskin, E. (2011, March 14). In social media, it’s all about Japan. PEJ news media index. Retrieved April 26, 2011, from http://www.journalism.org/index_report/social_media_it’s_all_about_japan

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2. Blackburn, B. (2011, March 11). Japan earthquake and tsunami: social media spreads news, raises relief funds. ABC news. Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/japan-earthquake-tsunami-drive-social-media-dialogue/story?id=13117677

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3. Japan earthquake on twitter: social media trends during disaster. (2011, March 11). Justmeans. Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://www.justmeans.com/Japan-Earthquake-on-Twitter-Social-Media-Trends-During-Disaster/46835.htm

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4. CitizenTube Blog. “About CitizenTube”. http://www.citizentube.com/. Retrieved April 27, 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">5. CitizenTube Channel. Profile. http://www.youtube.com/user/citizentube. Retrieved April 26,2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">6. CitizenTube Playlist. “Earthquake in Japan”. http://www.youtube.com/user/citizentube#grid/user/0870831CE43351E1. Retrieved April 23, 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">7. Hopkins, Jim (October 11, 2006). "Surprise! There's a third YouTube co-founder". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-10-11-youtube-karim_x.htm. Retrieved April 21, 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">8. YouTube is collecting eyewitness (2001, March 11). Japan earthquake: eyewitness video of 8.9 quake, tsunami, on YouTube’sCitizenTube. L.A.Times. Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/03/japan-earthquake-citizentube-collects-eyewitness-video-of-89-quake-tsunami.html. Retrieved April 23, 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">9. YouTube Search. “Search results for japan earthquake”. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=japan+earthquake&aq=0&oq=japan+ear Retrieved April 21, 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">10. Wright, Liz Borod. (28 March 2011). How to Help Japan after the Earthquake and Tsunami. Retrieved 20 April 2011 from http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelblogs/580/109077/How+to+Help+Japan+After+the+Earthquake+and+Tsunami?destId=356635

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">11. Japanese Earthquake Relief Efforts (2011) Retrieved from http://www.sfweekly.com/events/japanese-earthquake-relief-efforts-2414869/

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">12. Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief: Fundraisers on Maui Approved by the Red Cross. 5 April 2011. Retrieved from http://mauinow.com/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/