Is social media an effective tool for crisis and risk communication in disaster and emergency situations?

Purpose: This study aimed to present a valid and reliable scale that can evaluate the tendency of the public to search and share crisis and risk information on social media in general and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram platforms in particular. Materials and Methods: Explanatory (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analyzes (DFA) were conducted using SPSS V26.0 and SPSS AMOS 26 on the quantitative data obtained from 415 samples by online survey method in the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in Turkey ( 17 March-03 May 2020) . Results: In this study, a 30-item and 5-point Likert type consisting of 6 subscales with an eigenvalue greater than one, which explains 76% of the total variance, was developed to measure and evaluate the social media usage tendencies of the public in searching and sharing crisis and risk information. The scale has high validity (KMO = 0,884) and high reliability (Cronbach's α = 0,925). The reliability of each sub-dimension of the scale was also found to be high (between 0,862 and 0,923). Conclusion: This study has developed a valid and reliable scale that measures the tendency of the public to seek and share crisis and risk information on social media in crises caused by threats such as the Covid-19 pandemic that threatens public health. This scale will provide important data and assessments that will enable healthcare organizations and emergency management agencies to use social media effectively to communicate crisis and risk information to the public, build community resilience, gain public support, and take advantage of the opportunity to interact with influential followers.