‘Social media as surveillance, action tool for emergencies’

THROUGH a combination of basic journalism skills and technology, social media can be used as an effective surveillance and action tool during emergencies and natural calamities in the country,

Maria Ressa, founder and CEO of news website Rappler, reiterated this during a forum titled, “Research and Innovation in Health and Disaster and Emergency Management” at the Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday.

Ressa said social media is a driver in sharing information and channeling of calls for assistance for the victims of supertyphoon Yolanda as evidenced by the efforts of blogger Sheldon Levine on the calamity which struck the country last Nov. 8.

She said terms like “Philippines”, “Yolanda” and “Haiyan (international name of Yolanda)” was mentioned 5.6 million times in all social media sites around the world by Levine’s blog from Nov. 6-20 last year. “When a crisis hits, there’s a great need and demand for information,” Ressa said.
Gate-keeping

She said social media empowers Netizens to become citizen journalists who can inform and collaborate with authorities during emergency situations.

“How can a journalist help during disasters? We are all journalists. We can all help,” she told the audience. Ressa said the growth of social media trounced the gate-keeping power of traditional media and democratized information. Ressa said Rappler uses crowdsourcing in social media sites to mine information.

She said a strong online media helps governance empower the electorate by allowing them to monitor and speak out on corruption and political issues.

“Citizen Journalism is incredibly important, because citizens are embedded in the communities,” she said.

“Because no organization can be there everywhere people can,” she said. Through

crowdsourcing, Ressa said social media can bring reforms to the government.