A content analysis of social media discourse during Hurricane María: filling a void when traditional media are silent

As social media is increasingly used by communities to understand and cope with environmental hazards, understanding how people use social media before, during, and after disasters can support disaster response and recovery efforts. This paper presents an empirical application of Houston et al.’s (Disasters 39:1–22, 2015) functional framework for disaster social media, using the case of Twitter use during and after Hurricane María. Our research aims to (1) identify the predominant patterns of Twitter usage and content dissemination during the Hurricane María crisis and (2) validate and refine the functional framework for disaster social media with a case study of the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico in 2017. We find that people in the US used Twitter mainly to access news of the hurricane, express emotions (both negative and positive), and to understand socio-political events shaping the response and recovery. Most tweets came from individuals rather than organizations, and most were sent as the hurricane was designated as category four and approached Puerto Rico, with far fewer posts after landfall. These findings highlight the importance of individuals sharing and accessing vital information when official outlets are absent or limited and the relatively short-lived attention to slow recovery processes.