Hurricane Risk Information and Perceptions of Blogs
Abstract
Hurricanes have proven to be one of nature's deadliest forces, and they can cause irreplaceable damage to entire communities, infrastructure, and people's livelihood. As a hurricane approaches, it generates an immediate need for information. The affected communities, emergency responders, and general public seek hurricane risk information from a variety of sources. Traditional media plays a significant role in information management; however, engaging in web communication is becoming more popular for its mix of news reporting and personal accounts. An analysis of weather blogs reveals the topics discussed by bloggers and their readers before Hurricane Ike and what message components from the EPPM may or may not be present. From a sample of 105 blog posts, the messages included all four components of the EPPM (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy) only 13% of the time. As time approached the day of hurricane landfall, the occurrence dropped to 8%. The findings for blog comments were abysmal. From a sample of 849 blog comments, messages included all four components of the EPPM only 3% of the time. As time approached the day of hurricane landfall, the occurrence dropped to 2%. These findings suggest that blog posts and readers' comments may be failing to motivate protective behavior, for which threat and efficacy appeals must be present. Overall, perceived severity appeared most frequently in blog posts; however, response efficacy was present more in blog readers' comments. When analyzed for messages components across the three days prior to hurricane landfall, self-efficacy was missing 92% of the time the day before hurricane landfall. For blog readers' comments, self-efficacy was missing 84% of the time for the same time period. The disproportion of threat and efficacy suggest that posts and comments are likely falling short of motivating protective behaviors, which could have a more profound effect when one considers the timing of the messages. Finally, the study exposes what, if any, channel beliefs readers may hold about blogs. By examining the content reader's convey in their comments, the study concluded that readers do find weather blogs about Hurricane Ike as fairly credible. Moreover, the study found that readers expressed stronger credibility statements about local weather blogs than national weather blogs; however, the finding is non-significant. Limitations of the investigation include difficulty with statistical procedures, which were a result of coding problems. Also, the imbalance of local and national weather blogs may have contributed to the insignificant findings of readers' channel beliefs. Future studies should address these limitations and continue to apply the EPPM and RISP to hurricane events. Research also benefits when the audience's perspectives are incorporated. The blogosphere provides an excellent opportunity for such exploration.
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