During crises, public safety organizations must provide timely and accurate information to the public. Due to an active audience’s growing appetite for immediate information, public safety organizations communicate crisis information in order to protect and inform their publics. The decision to seek crisis information from an organization is dependent on an organization’s ability to leverage social media to provide timely and accurate information. Guided by Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory and the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model, this study aimed to build upon prior research in the field of crisis communication. An abundance of research exists that addresses uses and gratification theory as it applies to advertising, entertainment, and education. However, there is further opportunity for its application to the effects of crisis communication using social media. Findings from survey data (N = 270) showed when cognition needs increase during a crisis, so do social media word-of-mouth and information verification behaviors. This study explored effects on audience behaviors based on their choice to seek crisis information through traditional media, social media, and offline word-of-mouth. This study applied U&G theory in a crisis setting and focused on the audience’s choices and behaviors. Extending U&G theoretical foundations during crisis and applying the tenets of the SMCC model informs organizations’ efforts to improve interactions with an active audience through various information forms.
