Building Bridges between Users and Content across Multiple Platforms during Natural Disasters
Lynnette Hui Xian Ng, Iain J. Cruickshank, David Farr
TL;DR
This study addresses how information diffuses across multiple social platforms during natural disasters by identifying bridging nodes that connect disparate communities on X, Reddit, and YouTube for Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. It builds Content and User similarity graphs, clusters them with Leiden, and detects bridges via Network Chain Decomposition, complemented by analyses of centrality, linguistic cues, topics, bots, and social identities. Key findings show bridges are rare but central, concentrated on X, with cross-platform linkages bridging content and users across platforms; bridging content is linguistically complex, while bridging users are often bots and affiliated with broad identities. The work provides actionable insights for disaster response and public communications, suggesting strategies to craft cross-platform messages that resonate across diverse audiences while acknowledging the risks of automation and misinformation.
Abstract
Social media is a primary medium for information diffusion during natural disasters. The social media ecosystem has been used to identify destruction, analyze opinions and organize aid. While the overall picture and aggregate trends may be important, a crucial part of the picture is the connections on these sites. These bridges are essential to facilitate information flow within the network. In this work, we perform a multi-platform analysis (X, Reddit, YouTube) of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which occurred in quick session to each other in the US in late 2024. We construct network graphs to understand the properties of effective bridging content and users. We find that bridges tend to exist on X, that bridging content is complex, and that bridging users have relatable affiliations related to gender, race and job. Public organizations can use these characteristics to manage their social media personas during natural disasters more effectively.