Strengthening public resilience post tragedy via social media – Scholar Q&A with Queenie Li

June 30, 2023 • Jonathan McVerry

Scholars Queenie Jo-Yun Li and Yeunjae Lee both joined the School of Communication at the University of Miami in 2018. They quickly became collaborators. Their different interests – Li focuses on health communication and social change and Lee studies internal and employee communication – help inspire unique research ideas that examine how organizations can use resources to facilitate social change. Both Li and Lee have been funded by the Page Center before, and this year they are part of the 2023 research call on prosocial communication. Their current project studies the role of social media in building public resilience when experiencing a collective tragedy and the effectiveness of strategic government communication in collective tragedy management. For this study, they are examining public reaction to the deadly 2022 Halloween crowd surge in South Korea.

How do you define prosocial communication? How does it relate to this project?

Before the pandemic, I would define prosocial communication as the way we facilitate and establish dialogues that address social issues, especially from the perspectives of organizations. They are the major parties in our society that have power and resources. But after the pandemic, we found that not only do organizations or companies conduct prosocial communication, but governments do too. And with social media, an individual person also has the power and platform to speak up. People participate in conversations that address social issues too. We have been working on several projects on pandemic communication, and we feel like it is important to focus on the public more to see how they address social issues, how they find meaning, experience growth, and achieve social change. Meanwhile, we would also like to see how governments can advance (alleviate) the prosocial (antisocial) functions of social media in the prosocial communication process.

What is the origin story of your current Page Center project?

The idea for the study came right after the tragedy last year in South Korea. About 151 people died because of a crowd surge and another 150 were injured. It was one of the worst disasters in the country’s history. Many individuals could not wrap their heads around they were seeing. It left them absolutely shocked. Following the incident, a great number of people turned to social media platforms to seek solace in others and make sense of the situation. We thought we should understand the role of social media in the wake of this tragic event and see how these platforms may help the public to engage in coping. The utilization of social media following a tragedy can potentially have negative consequences as well, right? It's true that while it provides a platform for discussion, the constant exposure to videos, images, and discussions related to the event can actually deepen people's feelings of sadness or depression. Additionally, as time passes, the conversation often fades away, and people's attention shifts to other news and events, leaving those affected by the tragedy with a sense of being left behind or forgotten. So, we are hoping to conduct a longitudinal study to see how people utilize social media as a means of coping with collective tragedies.

How do you track coping on social media? Why is a longitudinal study needed in this case?

Thanks to the generous grant from the Page Center, we have the resources and support to carry out a research support of this magnitude. Existing literature in this area predominantly focuses on cross-sectional or one-time surveys conducted after a crisis occurs, or content analysis of platforms like Twitter.

However, we know that conversations evolve and change over time. Initially, there is a surge in discussions, which then gradually slow down until the anniversary of the event. We would like to observe and analyze this changing conversation flow, which is why we are conducting a longitudinal survey. We have already collected our first survey data immediately after the Halloween crowd surge in South Korea. We were hoping to capture real-time conversations related to the crisis We are about to start our second survey soon because it will be about six months after the event took place. Our third survey is scheduled to be implemented around Halloween, allowing us to examine how the conversation has evolved one year after the incident occurred.

One of the key challenges we encounter with the longitudinal study is ensuring the participation of the same individuals who took part in the initial survey. It is important for us to have their continued involvement in all three surveys in order to observe and analyze the changes in their feelings and attitudes over time.

It’s a year from now and the three parts of the survey are in. What practical uses do you foresee emerging from your study? What can governments learn from this type of work?

It's just a reality that we cannot escape tragic events such as natural disasters and mass shootings. It's sad to acknowledge this fact. What often happens is that as time goes by, public attention shifts to other matters, leaving the victims and affected communities behind. A few months ago, there was a mass shooting in Dallas, and while the news coverage might have dwindled in other areas, the local news in that community still focuses on ongoing efforts. They continue to work on fundraising initiatives for the victims, advocating for gun control policies, and exploring ways to support and advocate for their community. It's important to recognize the ongoing dedication and commitment of these communities even when the wider attention has moved on.

So, how can we extend and enhance the communication efforts, leading to more significant impact? In times of loss and pain experienced by people on social media, how can the government intervene and offer support? Additionally, how can government agencies and nonprofit organizations can contribute by providing different resources and assistance? It is important to explore avenues through which they can offer support to facilitate the coping process and foster resilience within society and these affected communities. This is an important endeavor to ensure that support systems are in place and that communities can rebuild and recover effectively.
Similarly, do you foresee this project guiding future steps in research?

We are focusing on the Halloween case in South Korea, which has a very unique culture compared to the United States and other Western countries. We definitely anticipate differences when it comes to public resilience and coping processes in different cultures. We hope to continue this project and try to apply similar theoretical frameworks and findings to different cultural settings. We would like to apply similar ideas to Western cultures, especially in the United States. The government's role is going to make such a difference when it comes to the coping process in the United States.

Our research is specifically centered around the Halloween case in South Korea, a country with a distinct cultural background compared to the United States and other Western nations. We acknowledge that there are likely to be variations in terms of public resilience and coping processes across different cultures. We hope to extend this project further and explore the applicability of similar theoretical frameworks and findings in diverse cultural settings. We would like to apply these concepts to Western cultures, particularly in the United States, where political ideology can have a significant impact on the coping process. Recognizing its importance, we hope to see how it can contribute to fostering resilience within American communities facing similar challenges.