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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: BUILDING ONLINE COMMUNITIES

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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: BUILDING ONLINE COMMUNITIES ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: BUILDING ONLINE COMMUNITIES AFTER CRISES: TWO CASE STUDIES Melissa Lynne Janoske, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Dissertation Directed by: Brooke F. Liu, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Communication Building community in a crisis situation offers individuals a chance to not just survive, but potentially thrive through a disaster. Communities offer a unique benefit in a crisis by expanding beyond the geographic to include virtual spaces, particularly when other media are not available for survivors. This project applies theoretical frameworks from both complexity theory and the community of practice model to explore how individuals form online communities after crises, how those communities impact crisis recovery, and how the model can be used to understand communities’ crisis communication. This project used a qualitative case study method, including content analysis of two communities that formed online after two crises, and interviews with nine members, including the founder, of one of the communities. The first case is the Jersey Shore Hurricane News Facebook page, formed during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The second case looks at a hashtag-based (#batman and #shooting) community on Twitter after the shooting at a Colorado movie theater in July 2012. The results show that instead of a typical one-to-many communication model and organizational focus, utilizing a community of practice allows for both a one-to-one model and a consequent focus on affected individuals. The community of practice model accommodates findings which suggest that location is important in building community, a need for adapting information needs to the community, and the acceptance of multiple relationship types. A new, alternate final dimension of communities of practice, continuation, is suggested and exemplified. This project argues for developing these online communities prior to a crisis. There are also specific suggestions for tools within technology that would be most useful to crisis-based communities of practice, and both benefits and drawbacks to the platforms studied. Practically, social media platform designers need to spend time thinking through how people connect during a crisis, and to make it easier for them to get the information they need quickly. In showcasing how to integrate social media, crisis communication, and a community-based model, this dissertation offers theoretical and practical suggestions for altering and improving current understandings of the best way to aid individual crisis response and recovery. BUILDING ONLINE COMMUNITIES AFTER CRISES: TWO CASE STUDIES By Melissa Lynne Janoske Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Advisory Committee: Professor Brooke F. Liu, Ph.D., Chair Professor Linda Aldoory, Ph.D. Professor Elizabeth Toth, Ph.D. Professor Erich Sommerfeldt, Ph.D. Professor Leah Waks, Ph.D. © Copyright by Melissa Lynne Janoske 2014 ii Acknowledgements This dissertation represents a lot of time and effort on my part, but there is no way I could have accomplished this much without the help and support of a lot of people. First, thank you to my dissertation committee, those individuals who took significant time and effort to help me mold this project into something fabulous. Dr. Leah Waks helped me think through every sentence, and supported the owning of my choices. Dr. Linda Aldoory continually opened my mind to new ways to think about my participants, the impact I would have on them, and the impact they would have on me. Dr. Erich Sommerfeldt walked into my prospectus defense with multiple pages of typed and highlighted notes on things I should be thinking about; his thoroughness and dedication to my growth as a scholar was a little scary at the time, but morphed into an inspiration and a comfort. Dr. Elizabeth Toth is a great role model for how to be an excellent scholar, boundless advocate for what you believe in, and really nice human being, all at the same time, and I learned an immense amount from watching her work. Thank you to Dr. Brooke Liu, who, as my advisor and committee chair, has guided me through every step of the graduate school process with clarity and support and email subject lines that broadcast how she felt about my work so I would not have to hold my breath while reading her edits. Every time I had a question or something to discuss over the last four years (which was often), she was there with an answer, or a suggestion, or another way to think about a problem so it did not seem like so much of a problem anymore. Her guidance and support have made me a much better scholar than I ever imagined. iii Thank you to the people who shared the halls of Skinner with me over the last four years. My cohort was small but mighty, and there’s no other group I’d rather have started this adventure with than Tom Campbell, Steve Cohen, Davey Connor, Kelly Madden Daily, and Abby Seiler, even if they did all leave before I was ready. To the great group of graduate students who helped me learn how to navigate this strange new world, who told me jokes in the computer lab, who high-fived me in the hallway, and who brought a broader variety of experiences and ideas to our discussions both in class and out than I ever could have imagined, thanks for pushing me to really understand how to best mix smarts and stamina without losing my sense of self. Abbey Levenshus and Beth Sundstrom modeled excellent scholarship and excellent friendship, and I’ll continue to look up to them for the rest of my career. Rowena Briones, Julia Daisy Fraustino, and Stephanie Madden are my friends, my writing partners, my silent tea drinkers, and my cheerleaders. We never write research questions when we should, but I think that’s part of our charm. The lesson that you should build a life that makes you happy is an important one, and I have Skippy Rowe and Agatha Rule, my friends from the same place but different times, to thank for reminding me of its simplicity and truth over and over. Oh, the comfort—the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person—having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. –Dinah M. M. Craik, A Life for a Life iv I’ve thought, said, and done a lot of ridiculous things since I was twelve or thirteen, but Chris Bonebreak Jackson and Kelly Summe Johnson have always been my safest spaces and most faithful hands. We joke that we can’t stop being friends because we have too much dirt on one another, but really, I can’t stop being their homey g because my life wouldn’t make sense without them in it. Their husbands, Rob and Jeff, and their children, Scottie, Andrew, and Charles, round out the beauty that is friends who are family. My family is a constant source of support and love and encouragement, even if half the time they have no idea what it is I actually do. My parents, Gary and Diane Janoske, instilled a respect for hard work and dedication early on. I might have cried doing math homework, or going to softball practice, or about the general unfairness of it all in the sewing room, but I learned how to keep my commitments and how to be part of a team and how to work at something until I figured it out, and those things have never steered me wrong. Their unwavering faith in me is an unending comfort. My siblings, Brad, Sarah, and Emily, and their partners Stephanie, Chris, and Cole, might joke and call me Lead Nerd, but I rarely laugh harder or feel more loved than when I am in a room with them. Thanks for always being there for me, no matter what. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………………...…....………...ii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………...………..v Chapter I: Introduction……………………………...………………………………...1 Purpose of Study……………………………………...…………………………...2 Research Questions………………………………………...……………………...4 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………5 Methods……………………………………………………………………………6 Implications of Study……………………………………………………………...8 Chapter II: Literature Review…………………………………………………………9 Definitions………………………………………………………………………...9 Crisis……………………………………………………………………..10 Crisis Communication and Public Response to Crises…………………..11 Social Media……………………………………………………………..13 Community………………………………………………………………14 Complexity Theory………………………………………………………………15 Social Media……………………………………………………………………..22 Understanding Social Media……………………………………………..23 The Dark Side of Social Media…………………………………………..26 Social Media Use During Crises…………………………………………27 Relationship Cultivation with Social Media During a Crisis……….........30 Social Media and Community…………………………………………...32 Community Building…………………………………………….33 Intragroup Communication…………………………….………...34 Knowledge Building………………………………….………….35 Impact of Social Media and Community During a Crisis….…….36 Communities of Practice…………………………………………………………38 Defining Communities of Practice……………………………………….39 Online Communities of Practice…………………………………44 Online and Offline Connection…………………………………..48 Emotional Support……………………………………………….49 Social Capital and Communities of Practice………………………….....49 Understanding Social Capital……………………………………50 Strong and Weak Ties……………………………………………52 Structural Holes and Boundary Spanners………………………..54 Collective Action and Status
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