Information flow during culmination of online public discourse based on the Oder river environ- mental disaster

Abstract

Aim: Determining the trend of changes of public discussions during an ecological disaster on the example of the Odra River disaster at the peak of attention.

Methods: Posts on news portals and social media published on August 10-12, 2022 were retrospectively monitored using the Brand24 tool for Internet and social media monitoring. The time period was chosen due to the highest activity of users publishing under the hashtag “Odra” (Oder river)/ “śnięte ryby” (fishkill). The 100 most popu- lar mentions (according to Brand24 sorting algorithms) each day were qualified for analysis.

Results: The nature of the posts shows a pattern where initially the public looks for substantive information, then, after assessing the threat, humorous materials are created, and finally, they lose interest in the experts’ positions and look for the cul- prits on their own. About 20% of data is clickbait content (not related to the topic but just being in line with the fame). Most of them occur at the beginning of the topic’s popularity, then their number gradually decreases. The majority (54%) of the data has negative sentiment (with greater engagement on social media). In addition to providing entertainment in humorous posts, they point out current problems and absurdities that make it impossible to help the population or may lead to a threat to life and health.

Conclusions: Understanding local risks and building resilience to natural and anthropogenic disasters requires greater engagement with the social sciences or ONE and public health. It is important to integrate knowledge of sociolinguistic processes and grassroots movements into the activities of crisis management teams and sanitary/ veterinary services to more effectively monitor and respond to water and other biohaz- ard emergencies.