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As public expectations continue to grow in terms of how governments should monitor social media during disasters, it is critical to provide empirical support for the extent to which governments should continue to invest in social media as essential disaster communication tools. This 3 × 4 × 2 between-subjects experiment (N = 871) tested which, if any, disaster information forms and sources were more likely to generate desired public outcomes such as intentions to seek and share information through an array of communication channels. The study also tested related influences of personmade versus natural disaster type. Finally, this study examined whether a known realworld disaster potentially affected participants' responses to hypothetical disaster information. Key findings include: (1) there were significant main effects of disaster information form and source, but no single form and source combination consistently predicted behavioral intentions; (2) there were no main effects of disaster type on all tested outcomes; and (3) there were no differences in how disaster information form and source affected participants' intentions to seek information before and after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings.

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Active vs. Passive Social Media Users. This report discusses research that is beginning to determine factors that predict whether members of the public will become active social media users and even content producers during disasters. Such research identifies three segments of the public that emerge during disasters: influential social media creators, social media followers, and social media inactives. Influential Social Media Creators. These users recognize the gravity of the disaster and are able and motivated to talk about it online. Nagar, Seth, and Joshi (2012) noted that influential social media creators quickly become leaders in creating and sharing information. In analysis of tweets from three disasters, they found more than 90% of users tweeting about these disasters were part of a connected group of influencers that emerged quickly after each disaster. Social Media Followers. Social media followers are those who receive disaster information from influential social media creators either directly or indirectly. Initial research points to the possibility that the majority of those active on social media during disasters may be followers given that the public primarily seems to use social media to share, rather than create, disaster information (Hughes & Palen, 2009; Reynolds & Seeger, 2012).