Tweak the Tweet is an idea for utilizing the Twitter platform as a two-way communication channel for information during emergencies, crises, and disasters. Researchers in the area of crisis informatics have recognized that social media sites are places that people turn to during major events to both inform others and to get information from others. Tweak the Tweet seeks to formalize some of these communications to make the information shared more easily processed and redistributed back to the public.
The idea takes advantage of the public nature of Twitter as well as the availability of tools to filter and collect tweets. It also seeks to allow users to inform the public of disaster-related information within (or in a very similar way to) their normal Twitter communication patterns.
Crisis Reporting Hashtag Syntax
A Tweak the Tweet campaign asks users to format their tweets with specific hashtags that allow computers to do a first round of processing on the information. This processing includes extracting location information, creating incident reports from tweets, and sorting these reports into different types of categories. The processed tweets can then be displayed on public web-pages in a variety of formats that allows users to view aggregate information. Examples include spreadsheets that can be sorted over report type and interactive maps that allow users to see where different types of information has been reported.
TWEET-BEFORE: Help needed in #Bethel Friday 12PM–6PM & Sat-Mon 8AM–6PM in the parking lot of Whitcomb High School #VTresponse
TWEET-AFTER: #need help in Bethel #time Fri 12PM–6PM & Sat-Mon 8AM–6PM parking lot #loc Whitcomb High School, Bethel #VTresponse
This tells the computer:
What? need
What needed? help in Bethel
Where? Whitcomb High School, Bethel
When? Fri 12PM-6PM & Sat-Mon 8AM-6PM
TWEET-BEFORE: A tree fell on a house at 123 Main Street this evening. No one was injured.
TWEET-AFTER: #damage tree fell on a house at #loc 123 Main Street, Ourtown #time 6:20pm Nov 15 #info no one injured #ourtownstorm
This tells the computer:
What? tree fell on a house
Where? 123 Main Street, Ourtown
When? 6:20pm Nov 15
Other info? no one injured