On Patriot’s Day, 2013, thousands of spectators gathered at the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon to cheer on the runners as they passed.  The last mile of the race was dedicated to the Sandy Hook shooting victims, making it especially poignant to viewers.  Suddenly, at around 3 PM, two explosions tore through the crowd, and turned what was originally supposed to be one of Boston’s most exciting events into a horrific tragedy.  Three casualties and approximately 264 injuries resulted from the bombings, which soon become known as one of the deadliest terrorist attacks since 9/11.

Map of where the bombings occurred. The marathon course is in dark blue.

 My Research

For my research paper, I was interested in whether social media has changed the ways in which we respond to disasters by looking at Twitter usage following the Boston Marathon bombings.  In my analysis, I read about 700 tweets released in the 9 hours after the attack, looking mainly at the types of emotional response that users displayed.  In my search, I noticed that there was a common theme of users engaging in an “event society”, where everyone shares an emotional experience with a broad, unknown audience through social media.  Although my paper mostly focuses on the aspects of this event society and whether it is helpful or a hindrance in how we respond to disasters, I want to use this website to explore other manners that social media has shaped disaster response that I was not able to include in my essay.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment with any suggestions/questions!
-Teresa

Outline:

1. Timeline of Events

2. The First 20 Minutes

3: #PrayForBoston: The Massive Twitter Response

4: How is Social Media Different?