Research on the Sensegiving Mechanism for Natural Disasters Short Videos

• In Event: The Impacts of Extreme Weather

Abstract

This paper, aiming to explore how social structure behind the formation and distribution of natural disaster short video influence its communication effect and the process of sensegiving, takes TikTok’s natural disaster short videos as the research object, using retweet volume as the sensegiving effect index, using fsQCA method to find the configuration of sensegiving strategies that lead to high or low retweet volume, and using cross-case coding to analyze the sensemaking pathways of viewers watching short videos. The results of the study show that videos with high retweets and good sensegiving effects always trigger diverse, complex and deep sensemaking in viewers, and even directly stimulate an awakening of their sense of participation. Emotional resonance videos and event videos have the best sensegiving mechanisms, with emotional resonance videos requiring prominent character elements, high visual impact, distinctive individualistic narratives and typical symbolic texts; event videos require more authoritative and credible publishers, good editing, rich content, a prominent collectivist style and ritualistic images. Further theoretical findings reveal that different content types of short videos have different roles in building disaster narratives and helping viewers construct
sensemaking, and that the progression of viewers’ sensemaking pathways depends on certain strategic arrangements. The contribution of this paper is to combine communication and management theories and to use QCA method to provide practical suggestions for improving the sensegiving effect of natural disasters short videos and promoting emergency mobilization.

Authors

• Yuan Zheng, Tsinghua University

• Zezheng Lin