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“You just don’t expect serious crisis information on a platform like Instagram.”: A qualitative study about Swedish civilians’ social media usage and information seeking behaviours in relation to crisis information.
Karlstad University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (starting 2013), Department of Geography, Media and Communication (from 2013).
Karlstad University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (starting 2013), Department of Geography, Media and Communication (from 2013).
2023 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
“Man förväntar sig ju inte seriös krisinformation på en plattform som Instagram.” : En kvalitativ studie om svenskars sociala medieanvändning och informationssökande beteenden i relation till krisinformation. (Swedish)
Abstract [en]

This qualitative study investigates people's media use and engagement on social media. By combining prompts material and qualitative interviews with theories such as the social mediated crisis communication model (Austin et al., 2012) and uses and gratifications theory (Katz et al., 1973; McQuail, 1984), it is delimited to drawing insights into how people themselves seek information in crisis situations but also how they prefer to get information about different crises mainly to national and local levels. These perspectives enhance the study and cover perspectives in people's behaviour regarding crisis information through different perspectives on people's media usage and behavior concerning information seeking about crises in different environments such as social media but also traditional media. Moreover, this study is centred around social media use, information seeking, information vetting, and information sharing. Further, misinformation, information sharing by influential people and organisations on digital platforms are also brought up and discussed in this study, which gives background to tendencies of motivation to people’s behaviour concerning perceiving and seeking information in a digital landscape versus traditional media. 

In addition, the current state of digitalisation has provided new ways of extending mass communication than more traditional communication methods such as television, radio, and newspapers (McQuail, 2010; Lindgren, 2017). In crisis, the digital landscape therefore presents an opportunity to spread and receive information, including crisis information, through means such as the Internet and social media platforms (Eriksson, 2018; Lindgren, 2017). This makes it a useful tool for organisations when it comes to crisis communication, providing more timely and punctual communication to a wider audience and stakeholders. Thus, it is important for authorities, organisations and society to understand how civilians receive and interpret the meaning of crisis information, recognising that digitalisation has evolved ways in which people receive and interpret information (Castells et al., 2007; Lindgren, 2017; McQuail, 2010). By understanding how crisis information is perceived and interpreted by individuals in the digital landscape, it enables development of effective crisis communication strategies to emerge, making it an important aspect within crisis communication research (Austin et al., 2012; Jin & Pang, 2010; Vigsø, 2016). 

Abstract [sv]

Denna kvalitativa studie undersöker människors medieanvändning och engagemang på sociala medier. Genom att kombinera stimulimaterial och kvalitativa intervjuer med teorier som social mediated crisis communication model (Austin et al., 2012) och uses and gratifications theory (Katz et al.,1973; McQuail, 1984) avgränsas den till insikter om hur människor själva söker information i krissituationer men också hur de föredrar att få information om olika kriser på nationell och lokal nivå. Dessa perspektiv förstärker studien och täcker in perspektiv i människors beteende kring krisinformation genom olika perspektiv på människors medieanvändning och beteende kring informationssökning om kriser i olika miljöer såsom sociala medier men även traditionella medier. Denna studie är centrerad kring användning av sociala medier, informationssökning, informationskontroll och informationsdelning. Misinformation,  informationsdelning av inflytelserika personer och organisationer på digitala plattformar tas också upp och diskuteras i denna studie vilket ger bakgrund till underliggande tendenser av motivation till människors beteende när det gäller att uppfatta och söka information i ett digitalt landskap kontra traditionella medier i kontext av kris.

Dessutom har digitaliseringens nuvarande tillstånd gett nya sätt att utvidga masskommunikation än mer traditionella kommunikationsmetoder som TV, radio och tidningar (McQuail, 2010; Lindgren, 2017). I kris ger det digitala landskapet därför en möjlighet att sprida och ta emot information, inklusive krisinformation, genom medel som Internet och sociala medieplattformar (Eriksson, 2018; Lindgren, 2017). Detta gör det till ett användbart verktyg för organisationer när det kommer till kriskommunikation, vilket ger mer läglig och punktlig kommunikation till en bredare publik och intressenter. Därför är det viktigt för myndigheter, organisationer men även samhället  att förstå hur människor tar emot och tolkar innebörden av krisinformation, med insikt om att digitaliseringen har utvecklat ett nytt sätt för människor i  hur de tar emot och tolkar information (Castells et al., 2007; Lindgren, 2017; McQuail , 2010). Genom att förstå hur krisinformation uppfattas och tolkas av individen i det digitala landskapet, möjliggör den därför utveckling av effektiva kommunikationsstrategier i kris, vilket gör den till en viktig aspekt inom kriskommunikationsforskning (Austin et al., 2012; Jin & Pang, 2010; Vigsø, 2016).

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2023. , p. 70
Keywords [en]
Social media, social media use, crisis communication, information vetting, information sharing, information seeking
Keywords [sv]
Sociala medier, kriskommunikation, Krisinformation, Informationstolkning, Informationsdelning, Informationssökande
National Category
Social Sciences Media and Communications Communication Studies Media and Communication Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-95625OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-95625DiVA, id: diva2:1773075
Subject / course
Media and Communication Studies
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2023-06-22 Created: 2023-06-22 Last updated: 2025-02-11Bibliographically approved

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