Reactions to a campus emergency: A text-mining analysis

Abstract: To observe students’ reactions to an emergency and how they use social media to communicate about it shortly after, this content analysis examines social media posts directly after a deadly stabbing that took place on The University of Texas at Austin campus in the Spring of 2017. A text-mining approach was used to analyze a total of 17,216 tweets and retweets posted within 48-hours after the attack. Approximately half of the tweets were news reports of the event, the remainder depicted unique reactions to the circumstances surrounding the stabbing. The most recurring topics to emerge were status updates on the situation, expressions of distrust for the mainstream media, theories about the motivation behind the attack, and inflammatory rumors of additional violent incidents nearby campus. The most influential Twitter profiles were operated by mainstream news outlets and included no official city or campus accounts. Now that individuals can access information online before officials even formulate a response, monitoring and leveraging social media sites like Twitter before and during an emergency can help identify and reduce the spread of misinformation. As social and mobile media continue to penetrate college campuses, we must examine how the dissemination of information shapes fact and fiction.

Keywords: Campus Safety; Crisis Communication; Emergency Management; Social Media; Text-mining; Twitter