Tweeting from the danger zone: the use of twitter by emergency agency during Mitchell factory fire in Canberra

Emergency Agencies have shown a significant interest in the use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook for interacting with partner institutions and citizens for distribution of vital disaster information. This paper is a case study about how social media was used in a crisis situation, being the Mitchell factory fire, in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In particular this paper looks at how one social media site; Twitter, was used. Twitter became a way for many Canberran citizens to find out essential information about the factory fire that broke out on September 16th 2011.This case study looks at the correlation of offline events with online events, the impact and effect of social media in an emergency context and the experience of the ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA) Media team’s use of Twitter during the day’s events and the lessons they have learnt from this experience.