Social Media Adoption in Urban and Rural Flood Risk Management: Evidence from Nebraska’s 2019 Flood-affected Regions

Authors

• Anisha Khandokar, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Zhenghong Tang

Committee Members

Yunwoo Nam, Tian Li

Date of this Version

7-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Community and Regional Planning.

Major: Community and Regional Planning

Under the supervision of Professor Zhenghong Tang

Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2026

Comments

Copyright © 2026, Anisha Khandokar. Used by permission

Abstract

Flooding is one of the most devastating natural hazards, causing significant economic losses and threatening public safety. While social media has emerged as a powerful tool for disaster communication, its effectiveness in rural flood risk management remains underexplored. This study evaluates the role of social media in disseminating flood-related information and engaging communities during and after 2019 Nebraska floods. This study incorporates SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis method to examine how the seven core communication functions were utilized for flood risk management at the state, regional, and local levels. The findings reveal that while state agencies dominated social media engagement for flood risk communications, community level participation remained low, highlighting disparities in digital communication access and use. Facebook played a crucial role in two-way communication, though interactions remained largely surface-level, with minimal comments and discussions. Additionally, fundraising and volunteer coordination efforts were largely absent from social media. While state and regional agencies maintain YouTube and Twitter (called as X since July 23, 2023) accounts, their activity on these platforms was minimal, with few flood-related videos, low engagement, and almost no audience interaction. Furthermore, county and community-level agencies relied solely on Facebook, lacking official YouTube or Twitter pages.

Advisor: Zhenghong Tang