Análisis de la comunicación de emergencias en Twitter. El caso del Ébola en España

Abstract

Twitter because of its immediacy, horizontality and simplicity in the publication and dissemination of content has meant a change in the way in which the three actors of political communication (public, media and citizen actors) interact with each other. This change has occurred in all communicative areas, including those of great social impact such as communication in emergency situations. In the field of emergency communication on Twitter we present the analysis of a relevant case: the contagion of Ebola by nursing assistant Teresa Romero (October, 2014). The study was carried out by means of a mixed methodology and 1,088,749 tuits have been analyzed, a fact that in itself emphasizes the great magnitude and social relevance of this emergency in Spain. The conversation about the Ebola case was organized around the hashtags: #SalvemosaExcalibur and #AnaMatoDimision, mainly. This highlights the main themes on which the conversation surrounding the emergence on Twitter (political criticism, and the case of the dog sacrifice of Teresa Romero).