Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Dynamic crisis communication, rumor combating and decision making analysis of misinformed social media users during disasters

在医院火灾或洪水等危机期间，社交媒体用户会显著影响信息的传播内容和传播速度。在社交媒体上传播的谣言通过在社交媒体上传播不准确的信息，给危机应对活动带来了巨大风险。谣言的传播会恶化对形势的认识，并导致错误的决定。关于谣言，社交媒体可以通过点击按钮轻松分享信息来加剧问题;另一方面，谣言也可以更快地被揭穿。更好地了解社交媒体用户的谣言反应行为对于在危机期间更好地控制社交媒体上的谣言至关重要。 本研究调查了社交媒体用户在危机中的反应行为。研究小组确定了四种危机，这些危机的数据可用于社交媒体上发生的事情。从这些数据中，研究小组探索了谣言是如何被揭穿的。除了来自不同社交媒体平台的数据外，该研究还包括深入访谈，以确定影响对谣言的反应和谣言揭穿工作的变量。然后，该团队开发并验证了一个决策模型，以了解被误导的社交媒体用户的决策过程。这项研究为危机期间更好的谣言管理提供了新的见解。

Social media users significantly impact what information is spreading and how fast it spreads during a crisis such as a hospital fire or a flood. Rumors spread on social media have posed great risks to crisis response activities by spreading inaccurate information on social media. The spreading of rumors can worsen situation awareness and contribute to bad decisions. Regarding rumors, social media can exacerbate problems by the ease of information sharing by only clicking buttons; on the other hand, the rumors can also be debunked more quickly. Better knowledge of the rumor responding behaviors of social media users would be essential for a better rumor control on social media during crises. This research investigates responding behaviors of social media users during crises. The research team identified four crises for which data are available of what happened on social media. From these data the team explores how the rumors were debunked. Besides the data from different social media platforms, the research also includes in-depth interviews to ascertain variables that influence responses to rumors and to rumor-debunking efforts. Then the team develops and validates a decision-making model to understand the decision-making processes of misinformed social media users. This research provides novel insights into a better rumor management during crises.