Twitter Is Helpful, Accurate Tool For Aid Workers During Emergencies [STUDY]

Harvard Medical School researchers examined the information flow on Twitter during the Boston Marathon bombings and have announced that Twitter is a valuable tool for emergency workers and others during such disasters.

The scientists observed tweets containing the word stems “explos” or “explod,” or the word “bomb,” just 3 minutes after the explosions.

The following figure illustrates the timeline of information during the bombings; social media messages directly from individuals on the ground were the timeliest, followed closely by validated public health alerts; messages from news sources followed both of these.

You can also see, in the following map, how accurate real-time social media messages are based on proximity to the emergency.

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