Fanning the Flames: An Examination of Uses and Gratifications Sought During the Gatlinburg Wildfires of 2016

This research set out to explore how individuals used Twitter during the Gatlinburg, Tennessee wildfire event of November 2016. More specifically, how and what did people from different geolocations share via Twitter during the crisis event and what gratifications were sought by their use of Twitter. A content analysis was completed on a stratified sample of tweets separated by geographic location. Based on prior uses and gratifications research, tweet and retweet content was coded as informational, social, and/or distractive. Findings from this research showed that individuals tweeted and retweeted at a fairly even rate despite their geographical location and that while information seeking and sharing was an important factor for users, social connectivity was the most important gratification to users during this crisis.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Department dc:contributor.department

Communication

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Bartos, Colleen Marie

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Horning, Michael A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Tedesco, John C.
• Mackay, Jennifer B.

• Twitter
• uses and gratifications
• geographical location
• Gatlinburg
• wildfire
• crisis
• information
• social

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:13698

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/81962