Coming Together Around Hashtags: Exploring the Formation of Digital Emergent Citizen Groups

Abstract

It has been well established that during and after crisis or emergency events, groups of citizens come together to help one another, solve problems, and manage recovery or cleanup. These groups are called emergent citizen groups. They form organically and often disband when the emergency is managed. This study proposes that similar types of groups now form in digital spaces during and after crises. The authors studied conversation on Twitter that used the hashtag “#PrayforUSC” after the murder-suicide that took place at the University of South Carolina in 2015. Initial results indicate that hashtags can function as focal points or catalysts for digital emergent citizen groups. More research should be done to determine whether and how these groups form, function, and disperse.

SnowedOut Atlanta: Examining digital emergence on facebook during a crisis

“…Our babies are MOST important!!! !” These findings echo what we see in related studies that individuals emerge to both seek and share support (Pang & Ng, ; Pyle & Boatwright, ; Waldman & Kaminska, ). Beyond the expected physical support, as is demonstrated in the following sub‐themes, SOA participants also sought the group for emotional support.…”

“…Individuals in emergencies will tend to emerge, respond to needs they see, and then disperse. In the digital era, this dynamic has been observed not only in physical spaces, but also in digital spaces (Chandrasekhar & Finn, ; Pyle & Boatwright, ).…”

“…The concept of hashtags functioning as hubs for emergent response and organization is also highlighted in Pyle and Boatwright's () piece examining the role of hashtags in active shooter events as hubs for emergent organizing. Pyle and Boatwright found that, following an active shooter event, a hashtag about the event functioned as an organizer and catalyst for emergent response efforts.…”

“…Sollicito and the members of SOA became spontaneous volunteers in the response to the snowstorm emergency (Waldman, Yumagulova, Mackwani, Benson, & Stone, ). This event provides a window through which to study a phenomenon that is a growing dynamic in emergencies—the role of spontaneous, digital volunteers, or digital emergent groups (Pyle & Boatwright, ; Strandh & Eklund, ). For the present study, the authors review relevant literature on social media in crisis communication, emergent behaviour in disasters, and the intersection of social media and digital communication with emergence and spontaneous volunteerism.…”