Crisis Coordination and the Role of Social Media in Response to COVID-19 in Wuhan, China

Yiran Li, Yanto Chandra, Naim Kapucu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

87 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The commentary addresses the government’s role in mitigating information asymmetry problems during pandemic crisis response. We use the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, as a case to show the use of social media as a key mechanism in shaping the actions of the central government in its coordination with the local governments during the pandemic response. The Chinese government effectively collaborated with a social media platform to not only create a dedicated channel to allow citizens to post information about the pandemic to accelerate the speed of relief but also mobilize citizens and nonprofit organizations to support government response and recovery efforts. This suggests that social media can provide a venue for the government to not only tackle the information overload but also mitigate the friction among levels of governments.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)698 –705
Number of pages8
JournalAmerican Review of Public Administration
Volume50
Issue number6-7
Early online date15 Jul 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2020

User-Defined Keywords

  • crisis coordination
  • social media
  • COVID-19
  • information asymmetry

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