SUPER: Towards the Use of Social Sensors for Security Assessments and Proactive Management of Emergencies

In this paper, the authors argue that despite the widespread use of social media in various domains (e.g. marketing/branding/finance), there is still no easy, standardized and effective way to leverage different social media streams – also referred to as social sensors – in security/emergency management applications. Social media statistics during recent disasters suggest that the understanding and management of real-world events by civil protection and law enforcement agencies could benefit from the effective blending of social media information into their resilience processes. The authors finish by concluding that that leveraging social media can provide tangible benefits during emergency and security response situations.

This paper will prove interesting to law enforcement and emergency response personnel looking to utilize social media reporting to improve response time and effectiveness. It will also be useful to researchers seeking to build upon its findings.